Fast tracked flu season
Teams of after-hours doctors will be making house calls across Gladstone and the surrounds from Saturday morning to help residents who are battling one of the worst flu seasons yet.
House Call Doctor has made Gladstone a priority with new Health Department figures showing the number of flu cases across Queensland is higher than anywhere else in the country.
House Call Doctor Chief Executive Officer Wayne Ormond said House Call Doctor has local doctors and chaperones on the road bringing back the traditional house call.
“Residents who are sick can now wait in the comfort of their own home for a doctor to come to them and it is 100 percent bulk billed which means they are not a cent out of pocket,” Mr Ormond said.
Queensland Health figures show last month in June nearly half of the patients – 48.5% – who went to Gladstone Base Hospital could have been treated by a House Call Doctor in their own home.
Mr Ormond said 2,199 patients attended Gladstone Base Hospital in June 2015 with 1,068 classified as category 4 or 5, which means they had non-threatening conditions.
“Emergency departments are meant to deal with life-threatening and serious medical conditions, it’s inefficient for the patient and a waste of hospital resources to be dealing with minor medical conditions,” Mr Ormond said.
“House Call Doctor means no more long waits in a hospital emergency room or having to suffer through the night or all weekend until your regular GP opens.”
The service, which was launched across the Wide Bay, Rockhampton and Darling Downs in recent months, is treating hundreds of patients a night across regional Queensland.
“We are now making Gladstone and Central Queensland a priority,” Mr Ormond said.
Gladstone residents would have already seen Australian television game show legend “Baby” John Burgess on their tv screens as an Ambassador for the new, and much needed service.
Original Source: 4CC | 3rd August 2015
