Public hospital system..A real eye opener

unfortunately there are always people that shouldn't been there and could have seen their local GP
With the free medicare system people will go to the ER instead of going to their GP where they may be out of pocket due to no bulk billing.
Saturdays & Sundays are sport injuries, broken bones & sprains.
We general thong wearers getting drunk and cutting their feet or no shoes at all.
Nights are usually mothers with young kids with a sniffle and panic.
There are a lot of people that shouldn't be there and complain about waiting 3 - 4 hours.
Trouble is also to see a GP these days you need to book ahead, they usually aren't " a see now doctor " so people go to the ER

Just a hint, if you need to go to the ED and it's not an immediate, must be seen now need, then go in about 8.00-9.00am when the night staff have handed over and the morning staff have had a chance to assess the patients, discharge or admit them and see those in the waiting room not seen by the night staff. It is also before all the saturday/sunday sports injuries and the weekday industrial accidents usually happen.

Monday morning is an exception and always busy.

6.00pm is always busy especially for kids.

If you have heart symptoms, chest tightness/arm pain or sudden onset stroke symptoms: numbness/confusion/vision changes/balance problems or severe headache, call an ambulance or go immediately to the hospital. It is not something to wait and see. Let the professionals make the decision, who cares if it turns out to be a false alarm

My original post was not directed at the hard working staff, who in all fairness had plenty to do whilst our daughter was waiting, and she was seen to straight away when we mentioned the chest pains, she was classed as not having a ehart attack risk, so we went into line, and fully what we expected to happen.

There were plenty of people who came in especially a couple of kids having bad asthma attacks, and they were whisked into the back rooms.

I was just more amazed at the joe public attitude, people who had checked themselves out of hospital against the staffs wishes and then had the hide to abuse the nursing staff. Then there was the people who believed they deserved to be seen because they had been there longer but only had a wound that really could've been cleaned up at home, or as has been said in many of the previous posts.

The funny thing was our eldest daughter is a dialysis nurse at the same hospital and was just finishing her shift when we walked in.

I have no doubt there are serious flaws in our health system , and sure it can be improved, but its not all the fault of the system, some people just really need to take a good look at themselves.

Cheers Ean

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Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

If you have heart symptoms, chest tightness/arm pain or sudden onset stroke symptoms: numbness/confusion/vision changes/balance problems or severe headache, call an ambulance or go immediately to the hospital. It is not something to wait and see. Let the professionals make the decision, who cares if it turns out to be a false alarm

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good summary..........my other father inlaw thought he could tough it out...chest pain that is (heavy smoker and drinker) he was a lucky man

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Originally Posted by garrycol

Well where do you go when most doctors have a 3 or 4 day waiting list and dentists something similar.

Locally some employers have had to change their requirements for doctor's certificates for days off as people often cannot get to see a doctor - where I last worked for under 3 days was a stat dec and over 3 days doctors cert.

Garry

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No issue here. Can get into a doctor or dentist the same day. And what could an ED do with toothache? They sent him home with some paracetamol, and advised him to dab some clove oil on it.

i did a 3 month contract working onsite IT helpdesk in 2 hospitals about 5 years ago.
one was public, one was private


you see the best and worst of people.



guess which one was which.

Don't complain too much. At least we have a free hospital system. I had a severe respiratory infection in Montana two years ago. The Big Horn County Community Hospital charged me $480 for the consultation and $84 for two prescriptions of cough mixture and antibiotic. The doctor was delighted to have an Australian with whom to compare systems. She said she has patients who will not get better as they cant afford the hospital, the prescriptions, or insurance.

And the Tea Party have tried about 40 times to repeal Obamacare. In America they have freedom, freedom to starve, freedom to die of treatable simple conditions.

USA; USA; USA! Land of the Free!

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Originally Posted by sheerluck

No issue here. Can get into a doctor or dentist the same day.

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Well you are the exception - the rest of us have to wait to see our doctors and dentists. ER could give pain killers that are appropriate to the level of pain.

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Originally Posted by garrycol

Well you are the exception - the rest of us have to wait to see our doctors and dentists. ER could give pain killers that are appropriate to the level of pain.

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my dentist has an 8 week waiting list