House Call Doctor services at risk
Toowoomba residents have been warned about the possible closure of one of the city’s after-hours medical services.
House Call Doctor made almost 20,000 home visits across the Darling Downs since it started last year, yet calls for home-visit Medicare rebate to be cut in the Federal Government’s review could see it shut down.
The cost to the Queensland health system would be $100 million higher over four years without access to after-hours doctor visits to households and nursing homes, a Deloitte Access Economics report has found.
Toowoomba has a few Medicare-funded after-hours medical services that House Call Doctor area manager Adam Bruggemann said were vital to the region.
“Basically this will affect those who are unable to get to their regular GP during the day and might have to wait an extended period of time when they actually need treatment almost immediately,” he said.
“So those who might have a bout of gastro who need assistance that night and can’t wait those couple of hours to see a GP.
“We’re concerned there’s going to be an increase in those types of cases in the ED (emergency department) which will block them up and prevent them from dealing with the emergency cases they need to deal with.”
“Definitely the elderly and those with young children will be disadvantaged,” he said.
“Between 70 to 80 per cent of patients we see are kids under 16 and the elderly.
“State-wide, Toowoomba has the third-largest number of patients.”
The Toowoomba service visits homes as far as Oakey to Cambooya, Withcott and Highfields.
Mr Bruggemann, who is a father of five, wished the service was available when he was raising his children.
“I remember once waiting in emergency for 10 hours because one of my sons had swine flu,” he said.
“It’s no dig at hospitals; this is about filling those gaps, reducing the stress of ED and getting to people who might not otherwise be able to access medical attention when they need it.”
“There have been many cases like an elderly person with a severe bout of gastro too sick to drive themselves to their GP.”
Mr Bruggemann just wants to be confident the service could continue.
“I’d just like to keep the service running and being able to effectively treat people in Toowoomba and surrounding areas,” he said.
House Call Doctor chief operating officer Craig Glover said in the past year the service had delivered house calls to people in regional Queensland who never previously had access to after-hours home visits.
“Our doctors save lives and the service saves taxpayer money – millions and millions of dollars in taxpayer money – by giving people an alternative to hospital emergency departments,” he said.
House Call Doctor has launched a petition called protect home visits at protecthomevisits.com.au.
Australians are joining the campaign and sharing stories about times a home-visit medical service was there for them.
Original Source: Toowoomba Chronicle | Charlotte Lam | 23rd Nov 2016
