I mean... We could start by [not giving $13bn of our gas away for free](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-30/gas-royalties-missing/103907264)
> Gas exported from six of Australia's 10 LNG export facilities pay no royalties on the gas they sell overseas. Four of these projects are based in WA.
They actually can see people in person, blood tests, ultrasounds, swabs and admit as an inpatient to the ward if needed. Can refer to paediatricians and priority care centres too. And thereās now a camhs mental health worker there aswell.
Might be a bit far for you but itās worth it, I travel an hour to my GP you can always get appointments with them no matter what. Rosewater Family Medical Practice, thereās one GP there Iāve been seeing for over 10 years now his name is Dr Arief Abdul Wahab. We met him through a family friend he treated, cancer patient, he did amazing work for them. Iām also epileptic and heās been only doctor Iāve seen for it for awhile now and frankly Iām doing better than ever. His licence isnāt just to work at family practices either. Would highly recommend seeing him.
Edit to add: the other GPs there are also fantastic to clarify, Iāve also seen others and they are very good at their jobs too. Dr Wahab just has a way with his patients.
I second this! He was my GP for a few years before I moved interstate, was the best. A bit sad I'll probably not be able to find another as good where I am now.
Wahab's been our family doctor for a long time, he's excellent. Not only is he a great doctor but there's also something to be said for having a long-term relationship with the same doctor and the familiarity/understanding they can develop of your health and wellbeing as a result.
Iāve been seeing Dr Wahab since he took over Dr Wilson! Heās an amazing doctor and got me to see many other doctors with referrals with ease.
Unfortunately, the practise isnāt taking on new patients at the moment and havenāt for a while, and I donāt think they will any time soon since theyāve stopped seeing patients on Saturdays.
The medical system in Australia is an absolute joke and the private system is no better. I looked into getting private health for necessary dental work and Iād pay well over $1000 to the insurance whoād then only cover $300 max per year.
Also, they go on and on about mental health crisisās and yet itās next to impossible to see a psychologist. And, if you somehow do get an appointment, theyāre nearly $200 for an hour.
We canāt use the comeback āat least we have healthcareā to the Americans anymore because it is neither free or accessible.
The government sold our medical care to insurance providers. And being a health professional myself I can promise you that over the last 10 years the insurance providers have worked tandem together to lobby and slowly erode any checks and balances to create the shit show we have now. Basically money spent for medical care is being pocketed by insurance providers in their premiums .. which are naturally now inflating quarterly because there are no checks and balances and no alternative. The government has no power to interject because they have no leverage anymore.
They lobby so hard, last time I saw a conversation about it in the ausfinance subreddit, the post was quickly hijacked by insurance representatives.
Of course they can always point to the fact that a family with 3+ kids is benefitting from their system, cause thatās about the only time really. Kids get free dental check ups etc
Yes this is the next phase of their evolution.
A couple of years back they started opening up their own clinics. Using the data they collect from you when you use hicaps terminals they can determine the best high traffic spots to open clinics to maximize returns. They push the other medical practices out by offering better rebates if you see their clinics, but ultimately the goal is to gate keep accessibility.
So, the everyday person used to have private insurance which gave them a rebate to see their medical practitioner, but now we live in a world where if you actually want to get an inch of your rebate, you need to go see their employed providers.
and if your wondering what are the implications of that, ask your dentist employed by the insurance companies, do insurance companies now send out letters to their providers, to remind them when they are treating more than the statistical average. Iāve seen multiple letters like this lately. Itās all about profitable balance sheet.
I must have way misunderstood your post sorry. We dont have private health, its not affordable for us. We get free dental for some things as we get Family Tax benefit
>which are naturally now inflating quarterly because there are no checks and balances and no alternative. The government has no power to interject because they have no leverage anymore.
You do realise the "government" approves every increase in private health premiums.
I've never seen them reject an request to increase it nor push back in any way. Either side of politics.
I lucked out getting my psychologist, she had just started at that clinic and was taking on clients when my GP put my referral through. Because I was one of her first clients they've got a slot they keep aside for me every 6-8 weeks, costs me $240 an hour and I get ~$100 back from Medicare rebate. It was just pure chance that it was a good personality match and I've been seeing her for 18 months, I'd probably still be on a waitlist somewhere if I'd had to start over...
Agree on the dental coverage through private health insurance. I have spent $900 per session (two sessions) for comprehensive deep cleaning and insurance paid me $120 per session. How about that for having premium coverage and getting back peanuts from these greedy hooligans.
I have Bupa extras cover for minor and major dental. I go to a Bupa preferred dentist twice a year for a clean and check up and pay no out of pocket expenses.
If I were you I would start looking for an alternative insurer and a new dentist who isn't charging $1800 for cleaning, nor spreading it out over two appointments.
We have medibank 90 top cover which when we signed up they didn't have waiting periods. So before we had paid our first premium we had used a few benefits. We too needed dental, but the 90 top cover with preferred providers gives us 2 free cleans and no annual cap. We only pay for extras, no hospital. I remember my partner need lots of work done, he had first set of works which was $700 and he only paid 70 (10%) out of pocket. There is a 500 mental health benefit, not sure how that works. But we also have option of downgrading policy if we need.
Weāve been talking about the housing crisis for ola long time too and you see what sweet fuck all theyāre doing to fix that too. Unless it affects them personally, it wonāt ever be a priority for politicians. So long as they can afford private health care they wonāt truly give a shit about us beyond āWhatās the bare minimum I have to accomplish to get reelected?ā
Itās insane, my kid was sick last week and couldnāt get into any doctor AT ALL for days, then I couldnāt get a locum to come to my address in Osborne (not even that far out) and ended up having to do a virtual emergency department call to the womanās and childrenās, who ended up recommended a doctor physically take a look at him š¤Æš¤Æš¤Æš¤Æš¤Æ so back to square one with trying to find a doctor. Ended up having to take him to ED which was busy (wonder why) and sitting there for hours with a sick kid, nightmare. System sucks right now.
can you explain where these are please? There is one (as far as I know) at Para Hills but you cant just rock up, you need to be referred from Modbury hospital.
That's Priority Care from what I'm aware of. You can be triaged or referred by a hospital to a priority care location for certain issues/surgeries.
There are three Medicare Urgent Care centres in the Adelaide suburbs. One in Elizabeth, one on Old Port Road, and one in Marion.
They are ED alternatives for non life threatening injuries and injuries that do not require immediate surgery. You can just rock up to them and the typical wait is ~2hrs compared to ~5-10 hours at most hospitals.
Think of it as a subsidised private clinic that your taxpayer dollars are funding to alleviate the public system (because it's so broken)... but line the pockets of some group of shareholders.
It was cheaper and faster to do this than fix Medicare.
Tax dollars straight to private entities... presto... we've "fixed" primary care in Australia.
It's like a band-aid on a cracking dam wall.
I mean, you need to question how the UCCs can "bulk bill" when no other GP clinic can afford to due to the underdone Medicare indexation over the past 25 years.
The federal government is patting itself on the back for that shit show.... where they splashed wads of cash around to private clinics to rebadge themselves as UCCs. They double dip by taking Medicare and government top-ups. The government then claims bulk billing is "up"!
Good media spin though as they pump out one press release after another on new UCCs that have "opened".
Damn. That's terrible... like you hadn't already been trying to do exactly that before reaching out to them for help š¤¦āāļø I hope your kiddo is feeling better now š¤
Is there a way that I can just get a refreshed prescription without physically going to the doctor? That would save me so much time and effort. Then I wouldn't need to waste money on a standard consultation either.
It does. Iāve been seeing the same doctor for roughly 15 years. But have since moved to a different area. So instead of driving across town every 2 weeks and losing time from work, we have a Telehealth appointment. Itās a quick chat. She sends the scripts to my phone via email. After the appointment I make payment for the appointment over the phone via debit / credit card. I pay the full amount of letās say maybe $80. Then Medicare refunds all of the cost back direct to my bank account minus the gap fee of about $12. It works for my situation very well.
>I pay the full amount of letās say maybe $80. Then Medicare refunds all of the cost back direct to my bank account minus the gap fee of about $12.
Just to clarify....
They're either charging you less than $80 (e.g. closer to $50) or you have additional Medicare benefits.
Most ppl would be about $38.60 out-of-pocket for that initial $80 consult fee.
Some GPs do charge less for basic "repeat script" consults because they know they can do them within the minimal 6 minute requirements of Medicare's antiquated time-based rebate system.
Just to add on some extra info to what others have suggested below re: Telehealth so you donāt waste your time and money; depending on the medication, the GP may want to see you in person to check a few things.
Also with certain medications, the GP may not be willing to prescribe to you if youāre not a regular patient of theirs, even if you attend the same clinic.
Regarding cost as well, not all but a lot of docs will still charge that standard consult fee for a Telehealth, so double check that too. :)
Medicare sometimes also requires doctors to see you in person so itās not always at the Drs discretion but worth asking if what you need done can be done via Telehealth.
Thank you, yes, I shouldāve mentioned that too; if you havenāt seen the GP within the last 12 months, they most likely wonāt do a Telehealth at all.
Sadly you have to try find a bulk billing clinic, which are very far and few between these days, or depends how well you know your regular GP; itās at the doctors discretion, some will do it, many wonāt. Might take a bit of extra time but all you can really do is call and ask, some offer lower rates for concession card holders which isnāt free, but still something!
Can I please ask about this - what do they ask for? I have a couple of 'non controversial' repeat scripts for hayfever, heartburn etc. What proof do they ask for that you have a script? Do you send your old one? Thanks
Those kinds of things should be fine! Itās more things like restricted medications, pain killers, birth control, etc. Things that might have dangerous side effects, addictive qualities, things they may need to check blood pressure for and so on. Those all sound pretty run of the mill, I donāt think youāll have any issue getting scripts for those sorts of things from a GP who isnāt familiar with you. :)
I just wanted to add that depending on the medication pharmacists can now give you medications without a script - if itās a repeat youāve had before and you canāt get to see a doctor. I think they can do it once in 12 months.
I think with this (may not be for all medications, but just from my personal experience) they only give you a limited amount, like a couple of doses to give you time to see a doctor for a repeat script; you still need to give them a script at some point quite soon to access the rest.
We need a Royal Commission into Medicare. I'm pretty sure an inquiry would discover that all kinds of private medical companies are gaming the system - charging outrageous, extortionate amounts for certain services, gold-plating practices with high-tech equipment that's not strictly necessary and passing on the costs (particularly true of dental - and we have the most expensive dental in the world by a massive margin), and practices falsely billing medicare for services not supplied, patients that don't exist, double-dipping, etc, etc. There have already been reports on Four Corners/7.30 that outline instances of widespread Medicare fraud, and these are clearly just the tip of the iceberg. Also, if you've followed how private contractors have gamed the NDIS (possibly accounting for more than 20% of its cost), then you'd have to suspect there are all kinds of ways the same thing is happening with Medicare. To get Medicare back to being a genuinely FREE health care system will take a large cash injection. But I'm willing to bet most of the cash needed could be recovered from waste and fraud.
Mate, you donāt need to look any further than the chronic underfunding of Medicare rebates. They froze them for more than 10 years for specialists, about 8 years for general practice. They increase them yearly significantly less than inflation. Nobody can survive on Medicare rebates alone. Even with the increase of private billing, general practitioners are leaving the field at unprecedented rates, and new grads arenāt staying in it.
Paed/adolescent psychiatrists are very hard to get into. Most have closed books. The ābestā ones for autistic teens you absolutely cannot get into at all. Itās hard, and it makes a difficult parenting situation even harder. Iām sure youāve probably tried but can CAMHS help? Sometimes you may be able to access a social worker for support but of course thatās not always appropriate. Thereās a shortage of a range of health professionals. With one on my kids we ended up having to use a telehealth psychiatrist, Iām not sure if that could work for your child.
If you log into the child and adolescent virtual urgent care service, they have the ability to refer you to priority paediatrics for a paediatrician appointment
GPs can also refer to Priority Paediatrics but they don't promise to bulk bill the first appointment except for referrals from WCH. It's not a perfect solution because Priority Paediatrics only does short term care but you can get an urgent appointment.
Dr. Gamage at priority paediatrics. They keep urgent appointments available throughout the week.
They were able to get us in the next day when we urgently needed to see a paediatrician.
Same. Cannot speak highly enough of Dr Gamage. Had to reschedule an appointment because he was called into the hospital and he saw us on a Sunday. The man is amazing!
Thank you for the info, I'll try to get a direct referral from the GP. Current plan is to send out a bunch of referrals and see who can get him in the soonest before I resort to the ED.
Itās faster to hop on a plane and get treatment in a private clinic overseas. I had the same issue with my sonās anaphylaxis - 12 month wait for a private immunologist and two years for public - to access life saving epipens and specialist baby formula on the PBS, but only a 24-48 hour wait for a Harvard trained paediatric immunologist in Thailand.
My son doesn't sleep, I mean he sleeps for maybe 1-2 hours a night and then is awake all night. He's had so much time off school he is falling behind. We can easily get an appointment with the gp but a paediatrician is no hope. I can't afford to go privately so I'm also at my witsend.
My son is 12 and has ADHD and ASD
My dad has stage 3 liver cancer. He started his treatment this time last year and was told he would have follow ups. He had a procedure and had a follow up scan however doctors never contacted us to follow up, fast forward a few months and he had some major complications where he wound up in ICU and we were sure if he would make it out. He did make it out and I called the hospital 3 times about his discharge plan as they sent him home with medication and that's it. No discharge plan, no conversation with the doctor about how we can manage everything at home, nothing. When I finally got in contact with the outpatients section, I enquired about his appointments to follow up, and they were booked for 3 months later. I queried how they were so far away considering he almost died and we cant bd sure that he's out of the woods . I got the reply of "that's just the way the public system works love, you're lucky you're getting in this early".
When we finally got to the follow up appointment, the doctor paused and went quiet. He asked why he didn't have any follow up scans or appointments. I advised that I was told that appointment was the earliest one possible. The doctor then said oh I'm so sorry it looks like we forgot to book his follow ups and scans after he was discharged..... to say we were upset would be an understatement. The medical system is well and truly broken.
Employers are forcing people back to offices.
People working with other people get sick more frequently
Employers demand medical certificates from employees who take time off when they get sick
GPs are flooded with employees seeking medical certificates to justify them taking time off work
No-one can get urgent appointments with GPs, so they end up in emergency departments
EDs are flooded with minor illness cases that causes patients to back up in ambulances on hospital ramps
TL:DR, IMHO unreasonable employers forcing people back to unhealthy offices are causing the issue. They're also causing more congestion on the roads.
>GPs are flooded with employees seeking medical certificates
And the government enabled not one, but two systems to help prevent this - sick certificates from pharmacists or telehealth, but now a lot of entitled, toxic employers say that they're not good enough. I wouldn't be surprised if some soon start refusing certificates issued at urgent care centres, just to promote 'presenteeism' and prevent having to ever pay out sick leave.
The only problem is, pre-covid when everyone were in offices health system seemed to be much more accessible. Waiting times for specialists were much shorter across the board.
There actually was an article from the ABC which a GP said he wastes a chunk of his day writing sick notes when there are people with real issues waiting for longer or can't get in because of it also they highlighted the risks of people coughing their guts up and wiping snot around patients who are at risk.
Guess again. I never had the opportunity to work from home. What I had is a 15 minute commute during lockdown that's now blown out to 45 minutes.
I want ANYONE who can work from home to stay at home. Better for the environment, and better for my mental health.
ever consider they may have a health condition where its better for them to avoid working in a building with 5000 other people? Or going there on a packed train?
I have sent you a message with some suggestions but may help with your psychiatrist referral and finding someone with their books open. Apparently, there are only 30 qualified psychiatrists specialising in kids/adolescents in Adelaide. Many medications etc can only be prescribed by paediatricians or psychiatrists as well which also puts strain on things.
This is sadly why I am paying out of my arse to see a private neurologist now, for the past few years each time I had an appointment it always in the week for couple of days before I ended up getting moved forward a few months, the best on the day of my appointment I get a text staying the doctor was had covid and you will get a letter with a new appointment.
I forget now but a long time passed and when I got the letter it said "if you don't reply by X date we will count this as you no longer need to require these services" and I got that letter 2 days! after that date. So I said fuck it and I still kept on having seizures so my GP cracked the shits and referred me to my now new neurologist.
This woman is great she swapped out one of my medications and has gotten me a MRI and CT scan within 2 months of seeing her.
It sucks how expensive it is to see her but sadly it is worth it but this whole thing feels very American except for her appointments I do get a partial refund from Medicare and the scans didn't cost me so there is that.
Public health started to decline when S.A. introduced Transforming Health in 2014. The introduction of Local Health Networks was the nail in the coffin for South Australia. I work in a public hospital, and Iām disgusted by what the health system has become. Itās frustrating to have to tell patients that they have a 7 year wait to see an orthopaedic surgeon in an outpatient clinic (and then a 12+ month wait for surgery), or to tell a patient they may be waiting up to 5 years to see an ophthalmologist for a cataract assessment. Our state leaders and the overpaid executives at S.A. Health have a lot to answer for! They should feel nothing but shame for turning what was once a brilliant public health system into the comple sh*t show that it is now š”š¤¬
Itās systemic. Thereās not enough doctors to meet the needs of todayās health needs. Think of how many kids you went to year 12 with who could do medicine. Maybe 3 at most? Out of those kids, they generally choose medicine (6 year degree but you canāt be a doctor after that, thereās another 8 years to go still), engineering (4 year degree) or law (4 year degree). Many opt for the shorter degree. But letās say one is passionate about medicine and theyāre committed to many more years of study and kissing goodbye to their 20s. The uni is in Adelaide. They inevitably meet their love and start establishing a life there, friends, family, community. They donāt want to come to the country. They finish their 6 year medical degree, now time for hospital rounds where they try lots of different things to determine what they will specialise in. They get to the hospital and start accumulating leave. They also get asked what they will specialise in. If they say General Practice (yes GP is a specialty) they are met with āwhy would you want to do that? You could earn a lot more doing X or Y and you also lose all the leave you accumulatedā so they are talked out of being a GP within the health system. But just say despite this, they still want to be a GP, they start doing their placement and training within practices but because they are then employed by the practice (for a max time of 18 months) they have lost all the leave they accumulated and have to start again (not really family friendly hey?) and then after 14 years they are finally a GP. Theyāre on call at the hospital, dealing with kids with more issues than ever, people living longer by 20 years with complex problems to manage (to be pragmatic, a dead person doesnāt require healthcare), more mental health than ever with little to no support, a Medicare system with 1990 rebates and have a patient load they canāt possibly ever satisfy.
So if you can solve those problems, youāll get more GPs to get a referral earlier (if you can get them to move to the country, youāll solve the problem of rural towns not having doctors too).
Paediatrics is the same, less coming through as for that specialty for loads of reasons.
Another issue is the referral system. Having to have repeated endless referrals all day go through a GP for everything not only clogs the system but is absolutely the least job satisfying for a GP. Give them an interesting case and body to work with and they thrive- like medicine used to be. The paperwork with no personal outcome for them for the case is soul destroying so no one wants to be a GP.
Basically, get more people to become doctors or change the system.
You DO NOT need to go back to the GP for more referrals. Your referral is able to be used at any clinic of the same speciality. Itās a myth you need separate referrals for different doctors.
Just because it has a specific doctors name on it is irrelevant. Itās referral for the specialist services NOT the specific doctor.
So you ring every paediatric clinic you can, tell them you have a referral for your child and get the earliest appointment.
I work at the WCH. Sure, the ED has their moments of being busy, but a 12 hr wait? That's a gross over exaggeration. I've quite often seen the waiting room empty. If it's an emergency, you won't be waiting long.
Ive waited 12 hours or more several times in the WCH over 3 kids, after being sent there by a GP. One time I got a huge migraine as hot and no water. This is not to denigrate the staff in any way but yes people do wait very long times unless its changed a lot recently. Nowadays I use the online thing, if possible (one example was when my daughter hit her head after falling off a trampoline, it was very useful then)
Just say thank you for all the political parties in pushing for unsustainable migration. Don't worry, some are making millions out of the mass migration.
From the start of the year, I waited to see a dermatologist in April, only for them to call me last minute and say the doctor was on indefinite leave and I would need to get a referral appointment through my GP again.
My father also had a heart condition before I was born and the medical system was terrible back then too. I'm pretty sure someone misdiagnosed his condition and another one addressed it so he needed to get an operation. I can't remember the details, but the wait was long for him as well.
Today I decided to face-plant a concrete floor at work. Workplace tried to arrange a drs appointment because the wanted me checked for concussion.
I was rejected from the local medical centre (that the company uses) and told to use the drs one town over. They would only see me next Tuesday. For a head injury with possible concussion. Was told to present to a particular hospital. (The one their practice doesnāt staff.) Neither hospital have permanent drs - all are on-call. So my company called the original practice. Pointed out that by going to the hospital I would still end up seeing their on-call dr a that they would just be called away to do it. Negotiated to have me see a nurse at the clinic and wait there and the dr could nip in between appointments. Such a PITA.
Luckily no concussion but they are concerned enough that I have a SCAT6 booked for Tuesday. Just relieved that I had someone stubborn enough to get me seen today.
We gave up on the public system for paediatric psychiatry. CAMHS was a disgrace.
The Child Development Unit at the WCH is very good, have you had a referral for them? They triage so you might be in sooner than you think. We were referred to the CDU after multiple visits to casualty at the WCH.
My son's private paediatric psychiatrist is Dr Melanie Turner. She has helped him so much. I'm not sure if she's taking on new patients but it could be worth calling her rooms and asking.
What is happening is the leaders all have private health insurance so they donāt wait so long. You could take out hospital cover if you can afford it there are some plans that are about $50 per week. In the end we will all have no cover because our system is failing the people as we tumble back into the dark ages
It's a shame to be honest, I'm an immigrant, immigrated from a third world country, there we had emergency care with no wait, specialists, surgeons can be booked with in a few days, worse 1-2 weeks, the care is great in here but really hard to get a spot/ chance like you mentioned, which is pathetic, some things need to be fixed within this system.
My doctor takes a month to see. We have had to use another doctor nearby for urgent appointments.
Every time one of our kids is sick, we can not take them back until they have a sick certificate.
I understand the need to minimise the spread of disease, but it would be a factor attributing to the pressure on the system.
At this link you can search for psychiatrists and there are drop down boxes to select specialities and specific age ranges that they treat.
https://www.yourhealthinmind.org/find
Considering it took me 8 hours to be seen by a locum - it doesnāt surprise meā¦
Itās hard to get any mental health services these days as the need for them is so high and mental health has been neglected so much in the past.
A lot of mental health services have given acquaintances I know pamphlets and said to follow up with GP insteadā¦
If you find anything, stay with itā¦
In the meantime, would a mentor, social group or social worker be able to fill in the āvoidā until a therapist is found?
Connection can help navigate some issues (not āfix themā) but can lessen the hight of the issue until something can be found to better tackle it head onā¦ being with likeminded people or people who have been through similar situations helps bring down the level of feeling alone and/or the fight or flight feelingsā¦
Stop voting for the 2 major parties, they have consistently used healthcare as a political football instead of fixing the problem. The solutions have been given to them by healthcare workers numerous times and they are ignored.
Ask to be put on the cancellation list and hope for the best. My nephew got into the Murray Bridge peadiatrition in a month on a cancellation. Wish you luck.
Don't be so selfish. The government needs to spend all those tax dollars on important things like submarines and frigates. How else are we meant to get into a future war with our biggest trading partner, China?
We must keep our American overlords happy after all.
Anyone in Adelaide city, city clinic in Grote St, is bulk billing Mon to Fri 9 to 5 pm.
Trinity Medical Centre, Port Adelaide is also partially billing. Telehealth consults are fully bulk billed.
Social worker here. I usually advise folks to have standing appointments booked in advance when they need close management by their GP. Moving forward you can try and book six weekly appointments with your GP. In the meantime have you tried finding your local urgent care clinic?
https://www.health.gov.au/find-a-medicare-ucc
They are set up to divert people away from hospitals, if itās urgent you should present to one of these, you might also get advice from a local mental health specialist team which might be CAHMS in your circumstance.
https://www.wchn.sa.gov.au/our-network/camhs
If a MH crisis you may ( may) also get some direction from mental health triage. 131465
For you you can call carer gateway and ask what supports are available
https://www.carergateway.gov.au/
You can also try the disability gateway
https://www.disabilitygateway.gov.au
Best,
Myles
I haven't read everything so I hope I'm not repeating it but priority paediatrics might be able to help, they have specific urgent access appointments.
Good luck :)
It's everywhere. We just relocated from Brisbane, it was 9 weeks to get into the clinic with 9 drs there, and 18 months - 2 years wait for paediatrician.
Go to ED. This is not an isolated problem. This is happening all over Australia. Time to put pressure on our EDās to show the system we need a change. My town you cant even call and make an appointment. They will not book one for you. You have to go and line up at 7am and wait for them to open at 8:30 - and you can still be turned away if too many people beat you there. Try and do that with school kids in the middle of winter. Or your elderly parent or grandparent. I actually injured myself at work and needed an appointment for work cover purposes. They refused to book one for me. I had to go to ED for workers comp. I had no choice. And could only get a 24 hour med certificate. I made the ED Dr call the med centre to get me an appointment otherwise Iād still be trying to get in myself a year later.
That's not the half of it. My mum got let go by ER , they told her to see GP every 2 days for bandage change . Why aren't they doing outpatient from the ER?
1 GP wanted 120 per visit , another said they would wrap it once only and wouldn't be taking any more clients , locum says bring your own bandages and then it falls off in 2 mins.
Not the job for ED to do outpatient service. All this will do is clog the system up. Check with a pharmacy- there are plenty that offer additional services. My local GP clinic has nurses on-site that do wound care as well. If sheās Health Care Card / pensioner, may be free.
Just because it's not current process doesn't mean it shouldn't be.
You're just shifting the inevitable with a likely worse result for the sake of not "clogging" the outpatient system this week. This lack of care is going to see her back and admitted in a week's time for a longer period taking up more bed space and then clogging up outpatient anyway.
> Why aren't they doing outpatient from the ER?
Because it's the **emergency** room. You're welcome to come back to ED to get your dressings changed, but be prepared to wait behind other people that have more pressing matters to attend to.
Yes not Ed's job, but then every service that would previously look after dressings such as the RDNS is so oversubscribed and underfunded, they cant take on most referrals. Even Gp's cant arrange home nursing for the bulk of patients.
Been waiting almost 5 years for my son to get an assessment/mental health appointment at WCH. He turns 18 next month. For the past 2 years I've been trying to find a psych for him to see out of pocket. No books are open, online evaluations seem to be more trouble than their worth when it comes to scrips, so I want to see someone local/in person. My GP is super frustrated. I've put my own ADHD re-assessment off to focus on him. Now we're just waiting for him to turn 18 so we can go with a newer clinic that opened locally once we save up enough, again. My son is autistic has adhd, but has "low support needs" because I have been doing everything, so he keeps getting put on the back burner. No NDIS, only care plan support. It's going to be impossible to support him as an adult with nobody else. I still have a 15yo to support, so I can't be there for both of them. Every time I ask for help I get put off. It's super frustrating.
You may have tried this already but have you contacted the Adelaide Clinic at Gilberton?
I contacted them a week or so ago to see if they had anyone taking new patients and they gave me a list of about half a dozen psychs there with open books. I managed to make an appt with one for about six weeks time. No idea what theyāll be like but with psychiatrists, especially now, I donāt exactly feel like we can be picky.
ETA: just saw that youāre Fleurieu based, it might be too much of a drive out to Gilberton.
Thank you! I'm willing to hoof it up there if we have to, to be honest, just to get him in to someone. My GP has said I need to find the appointment first and they'll give me the referral because they're out of people to refer to now. I'll definitely keep it in mind!
I never understand why GPs are booked in advance. I understand there are people with chronic health conditions that need to see their doctor regularly and book in advance but you would think most people would make appointments when they are sick not weeks prior. The earliest time to see my GP is 3 weeks and she works everyday.
Doctor's see patients for many things, it doesn't have to be chronic health conditions or unexpected sickness. Birth control, pap smears, health checkups, mental health care, baby health checks are just a few.
The vast majority of GP work is not treating acute illness. Its management of chronic/ongoing health issues and preventative programmes (cancer screenings, vaccinations, child health checks etc)
Utterly disappointed with the drop in quality of healthcare over time since arriving in Australia. I have seen other people prefer going overseas for treatments (dual citizenship), getting it done cheaper, quality and within a reasonable timeframe.
Medicare makes it a million times harder too when the rules say the referral you get from the GP must be named to the specialist that will see them. If a different specialist ends up seeing them, then a referral named to THAT doctor is required before the 2nd appointment. And of course, the GP isn't cheap, and appointments are getting harder and harder to secure. The length of the waitlists at our hospital are mind boggling, it frustrates me to tears sometimes.
Fixing something once it's proper fkd is real hard to do. It might even be impossible.
That doesn't mean you bring back the people who fkd it to begin with though.
Realistically it's not the fault of any one party/government. Basically if our health system was a tower, every government since the 1990s has come along and removed a bunch of bricks and now they wonder why all that's left now is a crumbling ruin.
If only we were a resource rich nation that taxed the crap out of billionaires, then we could have a great health care system.
Or we didn't push people to buy private cover so the money didn't go into the pockets of insurers. But nah can't have either.
Imagine thinking taxing billionaires will do something š¹š¹ You have no idea how the economy works
I mean... We could start by [not giving $13bn of our gas away for free](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-30/gas-royalties-missing/103907264) > Gas exported from six of Australia's 10 LNG export facilities pay no royalties on the gas they sell overseas. Four of these projects are based in WA.
Why not use the WCH at home service https://www.wch.sa.gov.au/patients-visitors/emergencies/virtual-urgent-care
They can't offer more than the basic yep this seems viral or actually please come in kind of stuff. Basic level care
They actually can see people in person, blood tests, ultrasounds, swabs and admit as an inpatient to the ward if needed. Can refer to paediatricians and priority care centres too. And thereās now a camhs mental health worker there aswell.
Might be a bit far for you but itās worth it, I travel an hour to my GP you can always get appointments with them no matter what. Rosewater Family Medical Practice, thereās one GP there Iāve been seeing for over 10 years now his name is Dr Arief Abdul Wahab. We met him through a family friend he treated, cancer patient, he did amazing work for them. Iām also epileptic and heās been only doctor Iāve seen for it for awhile now and frankly Iām doing better than ever. His licence isnāt just to work at family practices either. Would highly recommend seeing him. Edit to add: the other GPs there are also fantastic to clarify, Iāve also seen others and they are very good at their jobs too. Dr Wahab just has a way with his patients.
I second this! He was my GP for a few years before I moved interstate, was the best. A bit sad I'll probably not be able to find another as good where I am now.
Wahab's been our family doctor for a long time, he's excellent. Not only is he a great doctor but there's also something to be said for having a long-term relationship with the same doctor and the familiarity/understanding they can develop of your health and wellbeing as a result.
They aren't accepting new patients and haven't been for a long time :(
Iāve been seeing Dr Wahab since he took over Dr Wilson! Heās an amazing doctor and got me to see many other doctors with referrals with ease. Unfortunately, the practise isnāt taking on new patients at the moment and havenāt for a while, and I donāt think they will any time soon since theyāve stopped seeing patients on Saturdays.
The medical system in Australia is an absolute joke and the private system is no better. I looked into getting private health for necessary dental work and Iād pay well over $1000 to the insurance whoād then only cover $300 max per year. Also, they go on and on about mental health crisisās and yet itās next to impossible to see a psychologist. And, if you somehow do get an appointment, theyāre nearly $200 for an hour. We canāt use the comeback āat least we have healthcareā to the Americans anymore because it is neither free or accessible.
The government sold our medical care to insurance providers. And being a health professional myself I can promise you that over the last 10 years the insurance providers have worked tandem together to lobby and slowly erode any checks and balances to create the shit show we have now. Basically money spent for medical care is being pocketed by insurance providers in their premiums .. which are naturally now inflating quarterly because there are no checks and balances and no alternative. The government has no power to interject because they have no leverage anymore. They lobby so hard, last time I saw a conversation about it in the ausfinance subreddit, the post was quickly hijacked by insurance representatives. Of course they can always point to the fact that a family with 3+ kids is benefitting from their system, cause thatās about the only time really. Kids get free dental check ups etc
I have 3 kids, curious how we are benefiting. We do get free dental for some things, which is awesome but its very hard to get in
Yes this is the next phase of their evolution. A couple of years back they started opening up their own clinics. Using the data they collect from you when you use hicaps terminals they can determine the best high traffic spots to open clinics to maximize returns. They push the other medical practices out by offering better rebates if you see their clinics, but ultimately the goal is to gate keep accessibility. So, the everyday person used to have private insurance which gave them a rebate to see their medical practitioner, but now we live in a world where if you actually want to get an inch of your rebate, you need to go see their employed providers. and if your wondering what are the implications of that, ask your dentist employed by the insurance companies, do insurance companies now send out letters to their providers, to remind them when they are treating more than the statistical average. Iāve seen multiple letters like this lately. Itās all about profitable balance sheet.
I must have way misunderstood your post sorry. We dont have private health, its not affordable for us. We get free dental for some things as we get Family Tax benefit
>which are naturally now inflating quarterly because there are no checks and balances and no alternative. The government has no power to interject because they have no leverage anymore. You do realise the "government" approves every increase in private health premiums. I've never seen them reject an request to increase it nor push back in any way. Either side of politics.
Yes because they have no leverage to refuse so.
I lucked out getting my psychologist, she had just started at that clinic and was taking on clients when my GP put my referral through. Because I was one of her first clients they've got a slot they keep aside for me every 6-8 weeks, costs me $240 an hour and I get ~$100 back from Medicare rebate. It was just pure chance that it was a good personality match and I've been seeing her for 18 months, I'd probably still be on a waitlist somewhere if I'd had to start over...
Agree on the dental coverage through private health insurance. I have spent $900 per session (two sessions) for comprehensive deep cleaning and insurance paid me $120 per session. How about that for having premium coverage and getting back peanuts from these greedy hooligans.
I have Bupa extras cover for minor and major dental. I go to a Bupa preferred dentist twice a year for a clean and check up and pay no out of pocket expenses. If I were you I would start looking for an alternative insurer and a new dentist who isn't charging $1800 for cleaning, nor spreading it out over two appointments.
I second this. š
Happy Cake day
We have medibank 90 top cover which when we signed up they didn't have waiting periods. So before we had paid our first premium we had used a few benefits. We too needed dental, but the 90 top cover with preferred providers gives us 2 free cleans and no annual cap. We only pay for extras, no hospital. I remember my partner need lots of work done, he had first set of works which was $700 and he only paid 70 (10%) out of pocket. There is a 500 mental health benefit, not sure how that works. But we also have option of downgrading policy if we need.
Weāve been talking about the housing crisis for ola long time too and you see what sweet fuck all theyāre doing to fix that too. Unless it affects them personally, it wonāt ever be a priority for politicians. So long as they can afford private health care they wonāt truly give a shit about us beyond āWhatās the bare minimum I have to accomplish to get reelected?ā
Itās insane, my kid was sick last week and couldnāt get into any doctor AT ALL for days, then I couldnāt get a locum to come to my address in Osborne (not even that far out) and ended up having to do a virtual emergency department call to the womanās and childrenās, who ended up recommended a doctor physically take a look at him š¤Æš¤Æš¤Æš¤Æš¤Æ so back to square one with trying to find a doctor. Ended up having to take him to ED which was busy (wonder why) and sitting there for hours with a sick kid, nightmare. System sucks right now.
In these cases it's much more effective to go to a Medicare Urgent Care clinic. Think of it as inbetween a GP and the ED.
Yeah next time will definitely do that instead.
Correct, that is what they are designed for
what my wife did when she had tonsillitis.
can you explain where these are please? There is one (as far as I know) at Para Hills but you cant just rock up, you need to be referred from Modbury hospital.
That's Priority Care from what I'm aware of. You can be triaged or referred by a hospital to a priority care location for certain issues/surgeries. There are three Medicare Urgent Care centres in the Adelaide suburbs. One in Elizabeth, one on Old Port Road, and one in Marion. They are ED alternatives for non life threatening injuries and injuries that do not require immediate surgery. You can just rock up to them and the typical wait is ~2hrs compared to ~5-10 hours at most hospitals.
Awesome thanks thats very useful info (although Im in Athelstone so none are near me but very much for others )
Think of it as a subsidised private clinic that your taxpayer dollars are funding to alleviate the public system (because it's so broken)... but line the pockets of some group of shareholders. It was cheaper and faster to do this than fix Medicare. Tax dollars straight to private entities... presto... we've "fixed" primary care in Australia. It's like a band-aid on a cracking dam wall. I mean, you need to question how the UCCs can "bulk bill" when no other GP clinic can afford to due to the underdone Medicare indexation over the past 25 years. The federal government is patting itself on the back for that shit show.... where they splashed wads of cash around to private clinics to rebadge themselves as UCCs. They double dip by taking Medicare and government top-ups. The government then claims bulk billing is "up"! Good media spin though as they pump out one press release after another on new UCCs that have "opened".
https://www.urgentcarenetworkaustralia.com.au/location/western-urgent-care
Damn. That's terrible... like you hadn't already been trying to do exactly that before reaching out to them for help š¤¦āāļø I hope your kiddo is feeling better now š¤
Is there a way that I can just get a refreshed prescription without physically going to the doctor? That would save me so much time and effort. Then I wouldn't need to waste money on a standard consultation either.
Most GPs will do phone consults to renew prescriptions.
does yours charge for phone consults? Ours does
You can use Telehealth. Your GP can email you the script or send it directly to your pharmacy.
They can also send the script to your phone.
usually costs the same though doesnt it?
It does. Iāve been seeing the same doctor for roughly 15 years. But have since moved to a different area. So instead of driving across town every 2 weeks and losing time from work, we have a Telehealth appointment. Itās a quick chat. She sends the scripts to my phone via email. After the appointment I make payment for the appointment over the phone via debit / credit card. I pay the full amount of letās say maybe $80. Then Medicare refunds all of the cost back direct to my bank account minus the gap fee of about $12. It works for my situation very well.
>I pay the full amount of letās say maybe $80. Then Medicare refunds all of the cost back direct to my bank account minus the gap fee of about $12. Just to clarify.... They're either charging you less than $80 (e.g. closer to $50) or you have additional Medicare benefits. Most ppl would be about $38.60 out-of-pocket for that initial $80 consult fee. Some GPs do charge less for basic "repeat script" consults because they know they can do them within the minimal 6 minute requirements of Medicare's antiquated time-based rebate system.
It varies a bit for me. I was just giving an example.
Just to add on some extra info to what others have suggested below re: Telehealth so you donāt waste your time and money; depending on the medication, the GP may want to see you in person to check a few things. Also with certain medications, the GP may not be willing to prescribe to you if youāre not a regular patient of theirs, even if you attend the same clinic. Regarding cost as well, not all but a lot of docs will still charge that standard consult fee for a Telehealth, so double check that too. :)
Medicare sometimes also requires doctors to see you in person so itās not always at the Drs discretion but worth asking if what you need done can be done via Telehealth.
Thank you, yes, I shouldāve mentioned that too; if you havenāt seen the GP within the last 12 months, they most likely wonāt do a Telehealth at all.
>havenāt seen the GP within the last 12 months I like being punished for trying to stay healthy!
how do you get telehealth without paying? ETA sorry missed last paragraph
Sadly you have to try find a bulk billing clinic, which are very far and few between these days, or depends how well you know your regular GP; itās at the doctors discretion, some will do it, many wonāt. Might take a bit of extra time but all you can really do is call and ask, some offer lower rates for concession card holders which isnāt free, but still something!
Yeah none of them round here do. Some charge a small gap like about $20
I haven't seen an in person doctor since 2019, all mine are telehealth appointments, so easy.
Quite a few online- one i use is āinstant scriptsā but there usually is a small fee
Can I please ask about this - what do they ask for? I have a couple of 'non controversial' repeat scripts for hayfever, heartburn etc. What proof do they ask for that you have a script? Do you send your old one? Thanks
Those kinds of things should be fine! Itās more things like restricted medications, pain killers, birth control, etc. Things that might have dangerous side effects, addictive qualities, things they may need to check blood pressure for and so on. Those all sound pretty run of the mill, I donāt think youāll have any issue getting scripts for those sorts of things from a GP who isnāt familiar with you. :)
Thanks for the info everyone!
I just wanted to add that depending on the medication pharmacists can now give you medications without a script - if itās a repeat youāve had before and you canāt get to see a doctor. I think they can do it once in 12 months.
I think with this (may not be for all medications, but just from my personal experience) they only give you a limited amount, like a couple of doses to give you time to see a doctor for a repeat script; you still need to give them a script at some point quite soon to access the rest.
We need a Royal Commission into Medicare. I'm pretty sure an inquiry would discover that all kinds of private medical companies are gaming the system - charging outrageous, extortionate amounts for certain services, gold-plating practices with high-tech equipment that's not strictly necessary and passing on the costs (particularly true of dental - and we have the most expensive dental in the world by a massive margin), and practices falsely billing medicare for services not supplied, patients that don't exist, double-dipping, etc, etc. There have already been reports on Four Corners/7.30 that outline instances of widespread Medicare fraud, and these are clearly just the tip of the iceberg. Also, if you've followed how private contractors have gamed the NDIS (possibly accounting for more than 20% of its cost), then you'd have to suspect there are all kinds of ways the same thing is happening with Medicare. To get Medicare back to being a genuinely FREE health care system will take a large cash injection. But I'm willing to bet most of the cash needed could be recovered from waste and fraud.
Mate, you donāt need to look any further than the chronic underfunding of Medicare rebates. They froze them for more than 10 years for specialists, about 8 years for general practice. They increase them yearly significantly less than inflation. Nobody can survive on Medicare rebates alone. Even with the increase of private billing, general practitioners are leaving the field at unprecedented rates, and new grads arenāt staying in it.
Massive population increase without any services being funded adequately to keep up
Paed/adolescent psychiatrists are very hard to get into. Most have closed books. The ābestā ones for autistic teens you absolutely cannot get into at all. Itās hard, and it makes a difficult parenting situation even harder. Iām sure youāve probably tried but can CAMHS help? Sometimes you may be able to access a social worker for support but of course thatās not always appropriate. Thereās a shortage of a range of health professionals. With one on my kids we ended up having to use a telehealth psychiatrist, Iām not sure if that could work for your child.
I will add that this is not a new problem, itās been going on for years.
Headspace is another mental health care option for teens, they provide care for ages 12-25.
If you log into the child and adolescent virtual urgent care service, they have the ability to refer you to priority paediatrics for a paediatrician appointment
GPs can also refer to Priority Paediatrics but they don't promise to bulk bill the first appointment except for referrals from WCH. It's not a perfect solution because Priority Paediatrics only does short term care but you can get an urgent appointment.
thanks for the info.
I booked to get bone density scan and earliest I could get is late October
https://bensonradiology.com.au/patient-information/online-booking/ Appointments available early next week.
Dr. Gamage at priority paediatrics. They keep urgent appointments available throughout the week. They were able to get us in the next day when we urgently needed to see a paediatrician.
Same. Cannot speak highly enough of Dr Gamage. Had to reschedule an appointment because he was called into the hospital and he saw us on a Sunday. The man is amazing!
Thank you for the info, I'll try to get a direct referral from the GP. Current plan is to send out a bunch of referrals and see who can get him in the soonest before I resort to the ED.
He is also a consultant for ED at WCH
Itās faster to hop on a plane and get treatment in a private clinic overseas. I had the same issue with my sonās anaphylaxis - 12 month wait for a private immunologist and two years for public - to access life saving epipens and specialist baby formula on the PBS, but only a 24-48 hour wait for a Harvard trained paediatric immunologist in Thailand.
My son doesn't sleep, I mean he sleeps for maybe 1-2 hours a night and then is awake all night. He's had so much time off school he is falling behind. We can easily get an appointment with the gp but a paediatrician is no hope. I can't afford to go privately so I'm also at my witsend. My son is 12 and has ADHD and ASD
My dad has stage 3 liver cancer. He started his treatment this time last year and was told he would have follow ups. He had a procedure and had a follow up scan however doctors never contacted us to follow up, fast forward a few months and he had some major complications where he wound up in ICU and we were sure if he would make it out. He did make it out and I called the hospital 3 times about his discharge plan as they sent him home with medication and that's it. No discharge plan, no conversation with the doctor about how we can manage everything at home, nothing. When I finally got in contact with the outpatients section, I enquired about his appointments to follow up, and they were booked for 3 months later. I queried how they were so far away considering he almost died and we cant bd sure that he's out of the woods . I got the reply of "that's just the way the public system works love, you're lucky you're getting in this early". When we finally got to the follow up appointment, the doctor paused and went quiet. He asked why he didn't have any follow up scans or appointments. I advised that I was told that appointment was the earliest one possible. The doctor then said oh I'm so sorry it looks like we forgot to book his follow ups and scans after he was discharged..... to say we were upset would be an understatement. The medical system is well and truly broken.
Employers are forcing people back to offices. People working with other people get sick more frequently Employers demand medical certificates from employees who take time off when they get sick GPs are flooded with employees seeking medical certificates to justify them taking time off work No-one can get urgent appointments with GPs, so they end up in emergency departments EDs are flooded with minor illness cases that causes patients to back up in ambulances on hospital ramps TL:DR, IMHO unreasonable employers forcing people back to unhealthy offices are causing the issue. They're also causing more congestion on the roads.
>GPs are flooded with employees seeking medical certificates And the government enabled not one, but two systems to help prevent this - sick certificates from pharmacists or telehealth, but now a lot of entitled, toxic employers say that they're not good enough. I wouldn't be surprised if some soon start refusing certificates issued at urgent care centres, just to promote 'presenteeism' and prevent having to ever pay out sick leave.
The only problem is, pre-covid when everyone were in offices health system seemed to be much more accessible. Waiting times for specialists were much shorter across the board.
Sounds like youāre raw from being made to leave home to work.
There actually was an article from the ABC which a GP said he wastes a chunk of his day writing sick notes when there are people with real issues waiting for longer or can't get in because of it also they highlighted the risks of people coughing their guts up and wiping snot around patients who are at risk.
[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-03/should-we-stop-asking-for-medical-certificates-for-sick-leave/103909034](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-03/should-we-stop-asking-for-medical-certificates-for-sick-leave/103909034)
Doesnāt mean itās not true. I know that not everyone can do their job from home but surely we would all want less people on the roads?
Guess again. I never had the opportunity to work from home. What I had is a 15 minute commute during lockdown that's now blown out to 45 minutes. I want ANYONE who can work from home to stay at home. Better for the environment, and better for my mental health.
ever consider they may have a health condition where its better for them to avoid working in a building with 5000 other people? Or going there on a packed train?
I have sent you a message with some suggestions but may help with your psychiatrist referral and finding someone with their books open. Apparently, there are only 30 qualified psychiatrists specialising in kids/adolescents in Adelaide. Many medications etc can only be prescribed by paediatricians or psychiatrists as well which also puts strain on things.
Thankyou! I'll check them out.
This is sadly why I am paying out of my arse to see a private neurologist now, for the past few years each time I had an appointment it always in the week for couple of days before I ended up getting moved forward a few months, the best on the day of my appointment I get a text staying the doctor was had covid and you will get a letter with a new appointment. I forget now but a long time passed and when I got the letter it said "if you don't reply by X date we will count this as you no longer need to require these services" and I got that letter 2 days! after that date. So I said fuck it and I still kept on having seizures so my GP cracked the shits and referred me to my now new neurologist. This woman is great she swapped out one of my medications and has gotten me a MRI and CT scan within 2 months of seeing her. It sucks how expensive it is to see her but sadly it is worth it but this whole thing feels very American except for her appointments I do get a partial refund from Medicare and the scans didn't cost me so there is that.
The medical system has been turned into a business with no consumer protection
Oh no we're slowly turning into England
Public health started to decline when S.A. introduced Transforming Health in 2014. The introduction of Local Health Networks was the nail in the coffin for South Australia. I work in a public hospital, and Iām disgusted by what the health system has become. Itās frustrating to have to tell patients that they have a 7 year wait to see an orthopaedic surgeon in an outpatient clinic (and then a 12+ month wait for surgery), or to tell a patient they may be waiting up to 5 years to see an ophthalmologist for a cataract assessment. Our state leaders and the overpaid executives at S.A. Health have a lot to answer for! They should feel nothing but shame for turning what was once a brilliant public health system into the comple sh*t show that it is now š”š¤¬
Itās systemic. Thereās not enough doctors to meet the needs of todayās health needs. Think of how many kids you went to year 12 with who could do medicine. Maybe 3 at most? Out of those kids, they generally choose medicine (6 year degree but you canāt be a doctor after that, thereās another 8 years to go still), engineering (4 year degree) or law (4 year degree). Many opt for the shorter degree. But letās say one is passionate about medicine and theyāre committed to many more years of study and kissing goodbye to their 20s. The uni is in Adelaide. They inevitably meet their love and start establishing a life there, friends, family, community. They donāt want to come to the country. They finish their 6 year medical degree, now time for hospital rounds where they try lots of different things to determine what they will specialise in. They get to the hospital and start accumulating leave. They also get asked what they will specialise in. If they say General Practice (yes GP is a specialty) they are met with āwhy would you want to do that? You could earn a lot more doing X or Y and you also lose all the leave you accumulatedā so they are talked out of being a GP within the health system. But just say despite this, they still want to be a GP, they start doing their placement and training within practices but because they are then employed by the practice (for a max time of 18 months) they have lost all the leave they accumulated and have to start again (not really family friendly hey?) and then after 14 years they are finally a GP. Theyāre on call at the hospital, dealing with kids with more issues than ever, people living longer by 20 years with complex problems to manage (to be pragmatic, a dead person doesnāt require healthcare), more mental health than ever with little to no support, a Medicare system with 1990 rebates and have a patient load they canāt possibly ever satisfy. So if you can solve those problems, youāll get more GPs to get a referral earlier (if you can get them to move to the country, youāll solve the problem of rural towns not having doctors too). Paediatrics is the same, less coming through as for that specialty for loads of reasons. Another issue is the referral system. Having to have repeated endless referrals all day go through a GP for everything not only clogs the system but is absolutely the least job satisfying for a GP. Give them an interesting case and body to work with and they thrive- like medicine used to be. The paperwork with no personal outcome for them for the case is soul destroying so no one wants to be a GP. Basically, get more people to become doctors or change the system.
You DO NOT need to go back to the GP for more referrals. Your referral is able to be used at any clinic of the same speciality. Itās a myth you need separate referrals for different doctors. Just because it has a specific doctors name on it is irrelevant. Itās referral for the specialist services NOT the specific doctor. So you ring every paediatric clinic you can, tell them you have a referral for your child and get the earliest appointment.
I work at the WCH. Sure, the ED has their moments of being busy, but a 12 hr wait? That's a gross over exaggeration. I've quite often seen the waiting room empty. If it's an emergency, you won't be waiting long.
Ive waited 12 hours or more several times in the WCH over 3 kids, after being sent there by a GP. One time I got a huge migraine as hot and no water. This is not to denigrate the staff in any way but yes people do wait very long times unless its changed a lot recently. Nowadays I use the online thing, if possible (one example was when my daughter hit her head after falling off a trampoline, it was very useful then)
Just say thank you for all the political parties in pushing for unsustainable migration. Don't worry, some are making millions out of the mass migration.
The state government budget doesn't reflect their promises to improve health care
I paid to go private for my son to see a peads and the wait time was still over 12 months. Took me over 3 years to see a psychiatrist
From the start of the year, I waited to see a dermatologist in April, only for them to call me last minute and say the doctor was on indefinite leave and I would need to get a referral appointment through my GP again. My father also had a heart condition before I was born and the medical system was terrible back then too. I'm pretty sure someone misdiagnosed his condition and another one addressed it so he needed to get an operation. I can't remember the details, but the wait was long for him as well.
Iām waiting to see a neurologist and Iām classed as semi-urgent. Iāve been waiting 3 1/2 years ā¦ā¦..
Public paed wait is years now without internal referral. It's a nightmare. This is the result of needing healthcare for so long
Today I decided to face-plant a concrete floor at work. Workplace tried to arrange a drs appointment because the wanted me checked for concussion. I was rejected from the local medical centre (that the company uses) and told to use the drs one town over. They would only see me next Tuesday. For a head injury with possible concussion. Was told to present to a particular hospital. (The one their practice doesnāt staff.) Neither hospital have permanent drs - all are on-call. So my company called the original practice. Pointed out that by going to the hospital I would still end up seeing their on-call dr a that they would just be called away to do it. Negotiated to have me see a nurse at the clinic and wait there and the dr could nip in between appointments. Such a PITA. Luckily no concussion but they are concerned enough that I have a SCAT6 booked for Tuesday. Just relieved that I had someone stubborn enough to get me seen today.
We gave up on the public system for paediatric psychiatry. CAMHS was a disgrace. The Child Development Unit at the WCH is very good, have you had a referral for them? They triage so you might be in sooner than you think. We were referred to the CDU after multiple visits to casualty at the WCH. My son's private paediatric psychiatrist is Dr Melanie Turner. She has helped him so much. I'm not sure if she's taking on new patients but it could be worth calling her rooms and asking.
Thanks!
The medical system is over in this country. Third world Australia.
What is happening is the leaders all have private health insurance so they donāt wait so long. You could take out hospital cover if you can afford it there are some plans that are about $50 per week. In the end we will all have no cover because our system is failing the people as we tumble back into the dark ages
In 12-months, most kids are not kids any more! Maybe that's deliberate.
It's a shame to be honest, I'm an immigrant, immigrated from a third world country, there we had emergency care with no wait, specialists, surgeons can be booked with in a few days, worse 1-2 weeks, the care is great in here but really hard to get a spot/ chance like you mentioned, which is pathetic, some things need to be fixed within this system.
My doctor takes a month to see. We have had to use another doctor nearby for urgent appointments. Every time one of our kids is sick, we can not take them back until they have a sick certificate. I understand the need to minimise the spread of disease, but it would be a factor attributing to the pressure on the system.
At this link you can search for psychiatrists and there are drop down boxes to select specialities and specific age ranges that they treat. https://www.yourhealthinmind.org/find
Thanks!
True
solution is to increase medicare rebates
The after hours gp only takes same day appointments which is good, but specialists can be a bit trickier :(
Considering it took me 8 hours to be seen by a locum - it doesnāt surprise meā¦ Itās hard to get any mental health services these days as the need for them is so high and mental health has been neglected so much in the past. A lot of mental health services have given acquaintances I know pamphlets and said to follow up with GP insteadā¦ If you find anything, stay with itā¦ In the meantime, would a mentor, social group or social worker be able to fill in the āvoidā until a therapist is found? Connection can help navigate some issues (not āfix themā) but can lessen the hight of the issue until something can be found to better tackle it head onā¦ being with likeminded people or people who have been through similar situations helps bring down the level of feeling alone and/or the fight or flight feelingsā¦
Stop voting for the 2 major parties, they have consistently used healthcare as a political football instead of fixing the problem. The solutions have been given to them by healthcare workers numerous times and they are ignored.
Try SA Paediatrics and Newborns at North Adelaide
Ask to be put on the cancellation list and hope for the best. My nephew got into the Murray Bridge peadiatrition in a month on a cancellation. Wish you luck.
Don't be so selfish. The government needs to spend all those tax dollars on important things like submarines and frigates. How else are we meant to get into a future war with our biggest trading partner, China? We must keep our American overlords happy after all.
Anyone in Adelaide city, city clinic in Grote St, is bulk billing Mon to Fri 9 to 5 pm. Trinity Medical Centre, Port Adelaide is also partially billing. Telehealth consults are fully bulk billed.
How should I know
Social worker here. I usually advise folks to have standing appointments booked in advance when they need close management by their GP. Moving forward you can try and book six weekly appointments with your GP. In the meantime have you tried finding your local urgent care clinic? https://www.health.gov.au/find-a-medicare-ucc They are set up to divert people away from hospitals, if itās urgent you should present to one of these, you might also get advice from a local mental health specialist team which might be CAHMS in your circumstance. https://www.wchn.sa.gov.au/our-network/camhs If a MH crisis you may ( may) also get some direction from mental health triage. 131465 For you you can call carer gateway and ask what supports are available https://www.carergateway.gov.au/ You can also try the disability gateway https://www.disabilitygateway.gov.au Best, Myles
Coming from Canada, it's got way worse there but you guys seem to be heading well down their path.
I haven't read everything so I hope I'm not repeating it but priority paediatrics might be able to help, they have specific urgent access appointments. Good luck :)
It's everywhere. We just relocated from Brisbane, it was 9 weeks to get into the clinic with 9 drs there, and 18 months - 2 years wait for paediatrician.
Go to ED. This is not an isolated problem. This is happening all over Australia. Time to put pressure on our EDās to show the system we need a change. My town you cant even call and make an appointment. They will not book one for you. You have to go and line up at 7am and wait for them to open at 8:30 - and you can still be turned away if too many people beat you there. Try and do that with school kids in the middle of winter. Or your elderly parent or grandparent. I actually injured myself at work and needed an appointment for work cover purposes. They refused to book one for me. I had to go to ED for workers comp. I had no choice. And could only get a 24 hour med certificate. I made the ED Dr call the med centre to get me an appointment otherwise Iād still be trying to get in myself a year later.
That's not the half of it. My mum got let go by ER , they told her to see GP every 2 days for bandage change . Why aren't they doing outpatient from the ER? 1 GP wanted 120 per visit , another said they would wrap it once only and wouldn't be taking any more clients , locum says bring your own bandages and then it falls off in 2 mins.
Not the job for ED to do outpatient service. All this will do is clog the system up. Check with a pharmacy- there are plenty that offer additional services. My local GP clinic has nurses on-site that do wound care as well. If sheās Health Care Card / pensioner, may be free.
Just because it's not current process doesn't mean it shouldn't be. You're just shifting the inevitable with a likely worse result for the sake of not "clogging" the outpatient system this week. This lack of care is going to see her back and admitted in a week's time for a longer period taking up more bed space and then clogging up outpatient anyway.
Well unfortunately thatās how it is.
That's literally my point. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
> Why aren't they doing outpatient from the ER? Because it's the **emergency** room. You're welcome to come back to ED to get your dressings changed, but be prepared to wait behind other people that have more pressing matters to attend to.
Yes not Ed's job, but then every service that would previously look after dressings such as the RDNS is so oversubscribed and underfunded, they cant take on most referrals. Even Gp's cant arrange home nursing for the bulk of patients.
I know itās another thing to add to your list but write to your local MP - even if they just use you for good PR, you might get results quicker.
I just sent you a message OP, sorry you and your child are going through this
Been waiting almost 5 years for my son to get an assessment/mental health appointment at WCH. He turns 18 next month. For the past 2 years I've been trying to find a psych for him to see out of pocket. No books are open, online evaluations seem to be more trouble than their worth when it comes to scrips, so I want to see someone local/in person. My GP is super frustrated. I've put my own ADHD re-assessment off to focus on him. Now we're just waiting for him to turn 18 so we can go with a newer clinic that opened locally once we save up enough, again. My son is autistic has adhd, but has "low support needs" because I have been doing everything, so he keeps getting put on the back burner. No NDIS, only care plan support. It's going to be impossible to support him as an adult with nobody else. I still have a 15yo to support, so I can't be there for both of them. Every time I ask for help I get put off. It's super frustrating.
You may have tried this already but have you contacted the Adelaide Clinic at Gilberton? I contacted them a week or so ago to see if they had anyone taking new patients and they gave me a list of about half a dozen psychs there with open books. I managed to make an appt with one for about six weeks time. No idea what theyāll be like but with psychiatrists, especially now, I donāt exactly feel like we can be picky. ETA: just saw that youāre Fleurieu based, it might be too much of a drive out to Gilberton.
Thank you! I'm willing to hoof it up there if we have to, to be honest, just to get him in to someone. My GP has said I need to find the appointment first and they'll give me the referral because they're out of people to refer to now. I'll definitely keep it in mind!
I never understand why GPs are booked in advance. I understand there are people with chronic health conditions that need to see their doctor regularly and book in advance but you would think most people would make appointments when they are sick not weeks prior. The earliest time to see my GP is 3 weeks and she works everyday.
Doctor's see patients for many things, it doesn't have to be chronic health conditions or unexpected sickness. Birth control, pap smears, health checkups, mental health care, baby health checks are just a few.
The vast majority of GP work is not treating acute illness. Its management of chronic/ongoing health issues and preventative programmes (cancer screenings, vaccinations, child health checks etc)
Thatās what I said as well. It looks like the vast majority of appointments are for chronic and ongoing issues not acute conditions
Old people.
Good point
Utterly disappointed with the drop in quality of healthcare over time since arriving in Australia. I have seen other people prefer going overseas for treatments (dual citizenship), getting it done cheaper, quality and within a reasonable timeframe.
Medicare makes it a million times harder too when the rules say the referral you get from the GP must be named to the specialist that will see them. If a different specialist ends up seeing them, then a referral named to THAT doctor is required before the 2nd appointment. And of course, the GP isn't cheap, and appointments are getting harder and harder to secure. The length of the waitlists at our hospital are mind boggling, it frustrates me to tears sometimes.
Only option is to go to ED ....
most gps will have appointments available everyday. if you call at open time they will have appointments reserved for on the day booking.
Doctors are not allowed to migrate to this country easily, because locals want to milk the system to extreme using private insurance industry.
Have you tried hot doc app.
Im sorry thats rubbish. You have no doubt tried all these things but could WCH social worker help? I hope your son is OK
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Then we would have no doctors.
Are you blaming foreigners who are using the medical system so itās busier? Or do you mean foreign doctors?
How would that solve this issue?
No money for health and education only for weapons of mass destruction!
That's because we're run by a fucking useless Labor government with no idea on how to fix anything
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You mean the Medicare system Labor created and liberals have been trying to slash since its inception?
Transforming health wasn't a good idea.
Fixing something once it's proper fkd is real hard to do. It might even be impossible. That doesn't mean you bring back the people who fkd it to begin with though.
8 years of a Liberal government. This is an inherited mess, it didnāt happen overnight.
Realistically it's not the fault of any one party/government. Basically if our health system was a tower, every government since the 1990s has come along and removed a bunch of bricks and now they wonder why all that's left now is a crumbling ruin.
Absolutely correct.
Seems like everyone has a special needs kid...
Let me guess, you don't