Big improvement in waiting times despite ED's busiest year

jcitizen said :

You only have to sit in a hospital emergency department for a short time to see how the word “EMERGENCY” is being either ignored or misunderstood by many of the people who attend the emergency department at the hospitals.
There seems to be a large number of people that are using the emergency department for convenience, rather than an actual emergency.
It seems that most people would rather sit around in an emergency department, for most of the day, so that they do not have to pay to see a doctor, rather than have to wait a day or two or three and have to pay to see a GP.
I wonder how many people choose the hospital over a GP because the hospital is free and a GP is not.
Where are the figures on how many people attend the emergency department who are not faced with an actual medical emergency? I’m sure that the figures, if they were collected and made available, would add up to several thousand per year.
How many people, that are facing an emergency, are told they have to wait and cant be seen straight away by the doctor, because of the number of people that are abusing the system?
Seems to me that the Government needs to change the system so that people do seek treatment for non emergencies at the appropriate places like GP’s, medical centres, the nurse led walk in centres, calms, after hours doctors etc. and not Hospital Emergency Departments.
I make a suggestion that, one way the Government could encourage people to seek out a more suitable treatment facility, in such non emergency situations, would be to charge a fee, that is equal to or higher than a GP.
One way this might be able to be achieved could be that the Hospital employs a triage doctor rather than a nurse, to see the patients upon arrival, who would be able to make the determination of wether or not the patient is facing an emergency or wether or not they could be seen to by one of the other facilities available. If the patient insists on waiting to be treated by the emergency department, after it is determined that they are not facing an emergency, then the fee could be charged and this could be used to help fund the triage doctor.
Just a suggestion by someone who was born in the original Canberra Hospital and who has seen the “newer” system struggle to cope, ever since Kate Carnel decided to blow it up.

People going to the emergency department because it’s free rather then the GP’s confuses me because about 5km from the hospitals is the bulk billing GP’s clinics at Phillip and Belconnen. About the same waiting time before about 8pm.
Though last time I needed a Dr after hours I went to calms with an appointment. I would have been seen faster if I went to the emergency department and I wouldn’t have paid $90 for it. Also adding that CALMS is located next to the Emergency departments at both hospitals. I only needed a doctor not emergency medicine. 🙁

jcitizen said :

You only have to sit in a hospital emergency department for a short time to see how the word “EMERGENCY” is being either ignored or misunderstood by many of the people who attend the emergency department at the hospitals.
There seems to be a large number of people that are using the emergency department for convenience, rather than an actual emergency.
It seems that most people would rather sit around in an emergency department, for most of the day, so that they do not have to pay to see a doctor, rather than have to wait a day or two or three and have to pay to see a GP.
I wonder how many people choose the hospital over a GP because the hospital is free and a GP is not.
Where are the figures on how many people attend the emergency department who are not faced with an actual medical emergency? I’m sure that the figures, if they were collected and made available, would add up to several thousand per year.
How many people, that are facing an emergency, are told they have to wait and cant be seen straight away by the doctor, because of the number of people that are abusing the system?
Seems to me that the Government needs to change the system so that people do seek treatment for non emergencies at the appropriate places like GP’s, medical centres, the nurse led walk in centres, calms, after hours doctors etc. and not Hospital Emergency Departments.
I make a suggestion that, one way the Government could encourage people to seek out a more suitable treatment facility, in such non emergency situations, would be to charge a fee, that is equal to or higher than a GP.
One way this might be able to be achieved could be that the Hospital employs a triage doctor rather than a nurse, to see the patients upon arrival, who would be able to make the determination of wether or not the patient is facing an emergency or wether or not they could be seen to by one of the other facilities available. If the patient insists on waiting to be treated by the emergency department, after it is determined that they are not facing an emergency, then the fee could be charged and this could be used to help fund the triage doctor.
Just a suggestion by someone who was born in the original Canberra Hospital and who has seen the “newer” system struggle to cope, ever since Kate Carnel decided to blow it up.

This is Gough Whitlam’s “free” universal health cover legacy.

and take out all the self inflicted young pretty girls on a Friday and Saturday night who’ve simply drunk too much and popped a few party pills and passed out and simply need a bed to sober up on, you’d have the staff standing around chatting.

and the drunken yobbos that just start a punch on because ‘he looked at me’.

You only have to sit in a hospital emergency department for a short time to see how the word “EMERGENCY” is being either ignored or misunderstood by many of the people who attend the emergency department at the hospitals.
There seems to be a large number of people that are using the emergency department for convenience, rather than an actual emergency.
It seems that most people would rather sit around in an emergency department, for most of the day, so that they do not have to pay to see a doctor, rather than have to wait a day or two or three and have to pay to see a GP.
I wonder how many people choose the hospital over a GP because the hospital is free and a GP is not.
Where are the figures on how many people attend the emergency department who are not faced with an actual medical emergency? I’m sure that the figures, if they were collected and made available, would add up to several thousand per year.
How many people, that are facing an emergency, are told they have to wait and cant be seen straight away by the doctor, because of the number of people that are abusing the system?
Seems to me that the Government needs to change the system so that people do seek treatment for non emergencies at the appropriate places like GP’s, medical centres, the nurse led walk in centres, calms, after hours doctors etc. and not Hospital Emergency Departments.
I make a suggestion that, one way the Government could encourage people to seek out a more suitable treatment facility, in such non emergency situations, would be to charge a fee, that is equal to or higher than a GP.
One way this might be able to be achieved could be that the Hospital employs a triage doctor rather than a nurse, to see the patients upon arrival, who would be able to make the determination of wether or not the patient is facing an emergency or wether or not they could be seen to by one of the other facilities available. If the patient insists on waiting to be treated by the emergency department, after it is determined that they are not facing an emergency, then the fee could be charged and this could be used to help fund the triage doctor.
Just a suggestion by someone who was born in the original Canberra Hospital and who has seen the “newer” system struggle to cope, ever since Kate Carnel decided to blow it up.