Health Directorate comes out swinging on waiting times

JimCharles said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

I think we will see the ED waiting times grow if my experience from yesterday is anything to go by.
Leaving work at lunchtime due to sciatic pain I went to the local GP clinic. The car park was surprisingly empty so I was optimistic about not having to wait too long. There were quite a few folks in the waiting room but nobody lined up, so again I thought it might be a quick visit. How wrong I was. Two of the doctors had just finished for the day, leaving only one to fend off the patients for the next two hours before afternoon shift arrived. There were 74 people ahead of me. Seventy four patients for one doctor! I said I’d come back tomorrow.
I could manage my symptoms for another day, but for someone who has urgent need to see a GP and can’t wait for three to four hours for the service the ED is the only available option. Sure the wait times might be just as long, but at least they prioritize cases triage fashion instead of putting you into the end of the queue.
The sheer lack of doctors for the number of sick people only makes the emergency department become a prime target for minor ailments, as booking in a week ahead or waiting for half a day is not an option for some. For instance, if I needed a doctor’s certificate for yesterday, I cannot get that today because some doctors will not backdate, simply due to the fact that they cannot say with certainty that you were ill yesterday as they had not examined you. Our country’s health care is only getting worse by the hour, even now with the government cutting back on funding for testing such as X-rays, MRIs and the like. They were already unaffordable and now destined to become a luxury for rich people.

It’s a strange scenario with the Walk In Centre now closed, ostensibly because they were accidentally attracting patients who they couldn’t treat, who were then walking the road to ED and they weren’t real “emergencies”.
If the problem was (and still is) that these patients are falling in the unserviced gap between a cut finger and a real emergency, why hasn’t an aspiring GP set up base across the road from the hospital?

Years ago, I had occasion to take a child to the “Canberra After Hours Locum Medical Service” (CALMS) – they are at the Canberra Hospital in Woden and open till 11pm. A good service. But, you get to it through the Emergency Dept enterence ! Would be interesting to see the demographics of those presenting at the Emergency Dep’t, ages, where they live, what they were seeking treatment for, etc. If other States have largely solved the isue, then it’s beyond weird that the ACT Gov’t can not also solve it here. aside, of course, assuming that we actually have enough emergency beds/facilities/doctors/nurses, equipment, etc for the population the Hospitals are serving in the ACT.

wildturkeycanoe said :

I could manage my symptoms for another day

So why did you present at the ED rather than seeing a GP?

JimCharles said :

It’s a strange scenario with the Walk In Centre now closed

It’s not closed – it’s relocated and expanded. Now open in Belconnen and Tuggeranong.

JimCharles said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

I think we will see the ED waiting times grow if my experience from yesterday is anything to go by.
Leaving work at lunchtime due to sciatic pain I went to the local GP clinic. The car park was surprisingly empty so I was optimistic about not having to wait too long. There were quite a few folks in the waiting room but nobody lined up, so again I thought it might be a quick visit. How wrong I was. Two of the doctors had just finished for the day, leaving only one to fend off the patients for the next two hours before afternoon shift arrived. There were 74 people ahead of me. Seventy four patients for one doctor! I said I’d come back tomorrow.
I could manage my symptoms for another day, but for someone who has urgent need to see a GP and can’t wait for three to four hours for the service the ED is the only available option. Sure the wait times might be just as long, but at least they prioritize cases triage fashion instead of putting you into the end of the queue.
The sheer lack of doctors for the number of sick people only makes the emergency department become a prime target for minor ailments, as booking in a week ahead or waiting for half a day is not an option for some. For instance, if I needed a doctor’s certificate for yesterday, I cannot get that today because some doctors will not backdate, simply due to the fact that they cannot say with certainty that you were ill yesterday as they had not examined you. Our country’s health care is only getting worse by the hour, even now with the government cutting back on funding for testing such as X-rays, MRIs and the like. They were already unaffordable and now destined to become a luxury for rich people.

It’s a strange scenario with the Walk In Centre now closed, ostensibly because they were accidentally attracting patients who they couldn’t treat, who were then walking the road to ED and they weren’t real “emergencies”.
If the problem was (and still is) that these patients are falling in the unserviced gap between a cut finger and a real emergency, why hasn’t an aspiring GP set up base across the road from the hospital?

Well, CALMS is already in the hospital – about 50 metres from ED.
Unfortunately, it is not free and some people won’t dip into their beer/ciggie/pokie money for anything when they can get it for free. These are the same people who are urged by the socialists to refuse the concept of paying a small co-payment which would help provide the funding that our “free” health care system requires so desperately.

wildturkeycanoe said :

I think we will see the ED waiting times grow if my experience from yesterday is anything to go by.
Leaving work at lunchtime due to sciatic pain I went to the local GP clinic. The car park was surprisingly empty so I was optimistic about not having to wait too long. There were quite a few folks in the waiting room but nobody lined up, so again I thought it might be a quick visit. How wrong I was. Two of the doctors had just finished for the day, leaving only one to fend off the patients for the next two hours before afternoon shift arrived. There were 74 people ahead of me. Seventy four patients for one doctor! I said I’d come back tomorrow.
I could manage my symptoms for another day, but for someone who has urgent need to see a GP and can’t wait for three to four hours for the service the ED is the only available option. Sure the wait times might be just as long, but at least they prioritize cases triage fashion instead of putting you into the end of the queue.
The sheer lack of doctors for the number of sick people only makes the emergency department become a prime target for minor ailments, as booking in a week ahead or waiting for half a day is not an option for some. For instance, if I needed a doctor’s certificate for yesterday, I cannot get that today because some doctors will not backdate, simply due to the fact that they cannot say with certainty that you were ill yesterday as they had not examined you. Our country’s health care is only getting worse by the hour, even now with the government cutting back on funding for testing such as X-rays, MRIs and the like. They were already unaffordable and now destined to become a luxury for rich people.

It’s a strange scenario with the Walk In Centre now closed, ostensibly because they were accidentally attracting patients who they couldn’t treat, who were then walking the road to ED and they weren’t real “emergencies”.
If the problem was (and still is) that these patients are falling in the unserviced gap between a cut finger and a real emergency, why hasn’t an aspiring GP set up base across the road from the hospital?

I think we will see the ED waiting times grow if my experience from yesterday is anything to go by.
Leaving work at lunchtime due to sciatic pain I went to the local GP clinic. The car park was surprisingly empty so I was optimistic about not having to wait too long. There were quite a few folks in the waiting room but nobody lined up, so again I thought it might be a quick visit. How wrong I was. Two of the doctors had just finished for the day, leaving only one to fend off the patients for the next two hours before afternoon shift arrived. There were 74 people ahead of me. Seventy four patients for one doctor! I said I’d come back tomorrow.
I could manage my symptoms for another day, but for someone who has urgent need to see a GP and can’t wait for three to four hours for the service the ED is the only available option. Sure the wait times might be just as long, but at least they prioritize cases triage fashion instead of putting you into the end of the queue.
The sheer lack of doctors for the number of sick people only makes the emergency department become a prime target for minor ailments, as booking in a week ahead or waiting for half a day is not an option for some. For instance, if I needed a doctor’s certificate for yesterday, I cannot get that today because some doctors will not backdate, simply due to the fact that they cannot say with certainty that you were ill yesterday as they had not examined you. Our country’s health care is only getting worse by the hour, even now with the government cutting back on funding for testing such as X-rays, MRIs and the like. They were already unaffordable and now destined to become a luxury for rich people.

Waiting lists for elective surgery? That’s a week or two last time I checked?

Oh, I see, we are complaining again that people getting elective surgery for free have to wait? Another case of getting what you pay for.

The houso sense of entitlement is still strong. The fact elective surgery is free in this country at all should be enough.

There are some major billing problems at ACT Ambulance Service. Accounts are simply not being sent out. This must be costing heaps with the average ambulance call out fee about $800.

Feisty, not fiesty. ‘Tis an exception to that ‘i’ before ‘e’ rule.

Deref said :

Considering that they haven’t fixed the problem that allowed the initial data tampering, it’s certainly possible that they’ve done it again.

No need for lax controls, they’ve been “reclassifying” patients for years to keep the numbers down.

Considering that they haven’t fixed the problem that allowed the initial data tampering, it’s certainly possible that they’ve done it again.