The increased availability of bulk-billed home doctor visits is helping to ease the pressure on hospital emergency departments.
But awareness of existing after-hours services is poor, a new report by 13 SICK – National Home Doctor Service shows.
The service is the largest network of home visiting doctors in Australia, with more than 800 doctors attending more than one million patients every year.
A total of 150 doctors who signed up to the service provide home visits in Sydney.
The service does not replace a patient’s GP, but exists to address illnesses and conditions including gastro, asthma, acute respiratory infections, migraines, ear infections, sprains and injuries from falls.
People who require urgent medical attention on weeknights, weekends and public holidays, when most GP practices are closed, can call 13 SICK (13 7425) to arrange a bulk-billed, doctor home visit.
The operator asks a series of questions about the symptoms to determine whether a home visit is the right option.
A report is then sent through to the patient’s regular GP following the consultation.
The Leader reported earlier this year that St George Hospital was under strain from spike in non-urgent visits to the emergency department.
Chief operating officer of the service, Andrew Kinkade, says public awareness about alternative medical advice is low.
“Of all the major cities, Sydney has by far the lowest awareness and use of GP home visits nationally based on Medicare data,” he said.
“It is no coincidence that its hospitals including St George see the most non-emergency presentations.
“When people have been used to going to hospital for so long, it takes time to change behaviours.”
Sutherland mother of two, Joanna Bradley used the phone service recently when her daughter, 9, needed urgent medical care in the evening.
“She needed a script for antibiotics, and if I had waited until the next say she would have missed school and I would have missed work,” Ms Bradley said.
“You don’t take your kids to hospital if you don’t have to.
“But once a GP missed that my other daughter had a kidney infection, so we had to go to hospital.”
Miranda GP at MyHealth Medical Centre, Kim Chan, who does after-hours visits, says the home service is flexible for patients.
“One of the benefits is availability, because when you have a busy practice, there may be difficulty in covering all the calls,” he said.
Most of Dr Chan’s patients are the elderly or children, who need a script for antibiotics.
“Lots of calls are for people with infections – upper respiratory, skin, urinary tract,” he said.
“Parents especially are reassured during the busiest time of 6pm to 9pm and on weekends.”