12 May 2010

Only hurt a bit? Take it to the Walk-in Centre

| johnboy
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Katy Gallagher has announced she’s launched “Australia’s first public nurse-led Walk-in Centre”.

It’s right next to Emergency at Canberra Hospital and will provide free treatment for minor maladies.

The Centre will be staffed by specialised nursing staff and provide Canberrans with a new health service option.

Nurses will provide advice, assessment and treatment for conditions such as cuts and bruises, minor infections, strains, sprains, skin complaints, and coughs and colds. If necessary, people will be redirected to more appropriate services, such as their GP or the emergency department.

“The nurses who work in the Walk-in Centre have all completed additional training, and the care they provide is guided by established protocols that have been endorsed by the relevant clinical oversight bodies,” Ms Gallagher said.

Sounds great in theory…

We’d love to hear from anyone using it as to the practice.

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But you cant get prescriptions for basic pain relief? imho they should be able to give you 2 strong pills or something until you can see a doctor and get a prescription…

kakosi said :

It sounds like a good idea but most nurses defer to doctors for very sound reasons (i.e. they aren’t doctors).

For anyone who has an infection and needs an antibiotic this will be useless as nurses can’t prescribe. If you had a sick elderly relative or child would you trust the opinion of a nurse or would you seek out a doctor?

I would trust the opinion of a nurse over a doctor any day on minor incidents. Go to a hospital with a gushing wound and the doc will look at you for 2 mins and hand you over to the nurse to stitch you up, send you to xray, bandage you up etc etc etc.

This clinic is for minor injuries and illnesses. Pretty sure a nurse can determine if a cut needs a bandaid or stitches. Or an injury needs xraying, that the person with a cold should go home and rest – etc etc etc.

Spectra said :

What I’m curious about is whether they’ll be able to provide medical certificates. Seems like a great way to take the pressure off GPs who have to deal with people who know they don’t need to see a doctor for any kind of treatment, but whose work requires them to get a certificate to get sick pay.

the head nurse was on abc’s drive yesterday arvo and noted that they could provide ‘sick certificates’ – which will mean it will be a matter of educating employers to understand that this is relevant certification that the absence wasn’t ‘made up’… so, sort of, is the answer.

Spectra said :

What I’m curious about is whether they’ll be able to provide medical certificates. Seems like a great way to take the pressure off GPs who have to deal with people who know they don’t need to see a doctor for any kind of treatment, but whose work requires them to get a certificate to get sick pay.

Some chemists will provide you with a medical certificate (for minor conditions) here in Canberra.

It sounds like a good idea but most nurses defer to doctors for very sound reasons (i.e. they aren’t doctors).

For anyone who has an infection and needs an antibiotic this will be useless as nurses can’t prescribe. If you had a sick elderly relative or child would you trust the opinion of a nurse or would you seek out a doctor?

Spectra, I think they can’t do med certs as they’re not GPs.

Yeah that’s rough. I do voluntary work with St John Ambulance around Canberra and we’re always treating “yesterday” or “last week’s” wound or headache. People are tired of waiting for so long and getting varied results- hopefully this will go some way towards easing this.

And note that the first patients will be seen on 18 May, not before. Katie suffers from the AMC syndrome.

myrtleville said :

Certainly better than waiting for hours at a hospital.

Yeah, now you’ll wait next to the hospital for hours!

(What I mean is that I’m sure the demand for these services will outstrip supply…)

Going to be a bugger to get a park.

Spectra said :

What I’m curious about is whether they’ll be able to provide medical certificates. Seems like a great way to take the pressure off GPs who have to deal with people who know they don’t need to see a doctor for any kind of treatment, but whose work requires them to get a certificate to get sick pay.

Here ya go Spectra: http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=da&did=11077063

Apparently they will do a sick certificate – not a medical certificate.. I’m not sure of the difference..

Woah, this sounds great, epically after they got rid of all the 100% bulk billing places in the ACT.

Jerks

Certainly better than waiting for hours at a hospital.

What I’m curious about is whether they’ll be able to provide medical certificates. Seems like a great way to take the pressure off GPs who have to deal with people who know they don’t need to see a doctor for any kind of treatment, but whose work requires them to get a certificate to get sick pay.

excellent and long overdue initiative…

but you’re not going to ‘walk in’ if you’ve badly sprained your ankle, eh? 😉

I’ve been looking forward to this opening since I first saw it on ACT Health’s website (previous RiotACT story here). I have three kids, and at times felt like I should just have a regular 3pm Friday appointment at the GP because someone was bound to feel sick by then. Particularly with kids or the elderly, it’s worth having a nurse give advice on whether this can be treated at home or should be seen at hospital or the GP. We used to go to the community nurse for this stuff when I was a kid, the hospital being over 100km away – and that’s a long way to drive when you need stitches!

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