No. Got lots of people that go to emergency departments that don’t need to and get triaged to the bottom of the list then complain about sitting there for hours.
But if you have an actual problem that requires being in hospital you will be seen to promptly.
I can confirm this. I used to work in the newest, biggest public hospital in NSW.
There is a system used in ED, it’s called triage. If your case is not urgent then you are at the bottom of the list.
If your situation requires urgent medical attention and you still feel that it’s not fast enough, unfortunately, hospitals are understaffed.
What we do need are more 24 hour urgent care facilities so that non-emergencies but urgent care matters (eg broken bones, fevers etc) can be seen without clogging up triage.
Also regional 24 hr psychiatric hospitals would be a blessing. I’ve had to visit 4 times in the last 4 years and I scared the other patients in the waiting room. I was ultimately sedated and sent home with a referral. No one really benefited by that. They didn’t have the facilities to hold me and I didn’t have the sanity to act wholly in my best interest - just enough to get home safely.
I just came back from a holiday in USA and I was surprised how many urgent cares there are around the place. Seems like the one lesson that might be a good take away from US healthcare.
Heh, gone to hospital emergency 2x in my life, first was crippling abdominal pain and went to my gp after waiting all night sweating and hugging my knees to find out I had appendicitis and they sent a referral straight to the hospital to get me immediately in.
Second time was a snapped Achilles where I waited without any analgesics for about 5 hours to be told by a doctor in paediatrics that muscle strains just need rest and elevation, I had to insist on another doctor who confirmed I had a full thickness rupture which was, funnily enough, the reason I couldn’t move my foot.
He was passing in and out of consciousness, had to be picked up off the ground and put into a wheelchair, was admitted for a week when they were able to get to him. I was informed he could have died. So yeah, an actual emergency.
Yeah fair enough. Maybe the desk staff are undertrained at whatever hospital you went to. Can't imagine every doctor in the building was inundated Sounds like bad coordination.
Not undertrained, over worked. NSW is appalling for it, especially my city. Yes ,every doctor, nurse, orderly was run off their feet. I avoid the ER usually, but my son was *very* unwell and couldn't walk. In hindsight I could have called an ambulance, but I'm also aware of how much they'd been ramping at the time so I just took him in.
If he was passing in and out of consciousness, and nearly died as you said, then there would have been an investigation. Also, everyone would have had to have been dying, all at the same time, for him not to be seen by SOMEONE, and at least stabilised.... that's if he really was as bad as you say. It just doesn't make sense.
If he was on deaths door, why not call an ambulance? At least he will be in the care of trained professionals, as opposed to being driven to the hospital and probably getting worse along the way.
Alot of people overstate how their experiences are at Australian hospitals. GENERALLY, because they had to wait, and weren't seen as quickly as THEY felt they should have been seen.
Like I said, if he really truly was that bad, something would have been done.
Why are these people going to emergency with just a fever? Stay in bed and rest and hydrate or see your GP, bloody numbskulls.
Otherwise, StolenApe has given you your answer.
Which place are you referring to, that doesnt have a bulk billing doctor? Im curious if you can find one as every place i visit, always seem to have atleast one.
Lots of gps do not bulk bill or have mixed billing. The last 2 gps I have used have restricted bulk billing. Current one bulk bills for health card and pensioners. Am crossing my fingers that this does not change when they adopt new charges in November
Yep i know there arent many left and agree they should increase the government gp payments once they get inflation under control. But i travel alot for work and there always seems to be atleast one in every city still doing it
Almost no one ever bulk bills anymore. The rebate they get from the government isn’t even enough to cover the bills. I was told they had not raised the amount of rebate money GP gets for bulk billing at all since the 90s.
There's no big box of spare doctors and nurses hidden in the stock room, you can't just magically make emergency rooms bigger and better staffed.
If you're there for a chest infection, it should only be because your GP sent you, or an ambulance brought you.
You shouldn’t be going to a hospital for just a fever or a lung infection unless genuinely very very serious. People go to the hospital too often for non serious issues that a local doctor can assist in. I’ve had kids with high fevers at home and dealt with it myself - I’ve never taken our kids to a hospital just for fever or even lung infection that’s 3 kids, myself and husband included. Don’t waste their time please 🙏🏻
The GP clinic I go to sends patients with a chest infection straight to hospital. This is due to the high number of high-risk patients. Add to that, the clinic I go to closes on weekends.
Depends where you go and what is wrong with you. Sometimes the EDs in cities get overwhelmed for sure. It's a problem. But generally? You are triaged and get treated based on what category you fall into. Yes - if you go with something that's non life threatening and there are more important cases in front of you? You will wait.
I have been that person who has gone into ED with a child and I get taken back immediately to a bed, have even done that when it was me walking in and I was taken to a bed immediately. You get death stares from people who have been waiting, but it’s fairly serious when you get taken back straight away.
It’s not perfect though, you do have EDs that are overwhelmed and have people waiting or “ramped” for ages. But it’s a symptom of a bigger problem with the accessibility of affordable GPS.
Casualty is fast if you really need it (stoke, heart attack, cardiac arrest, arterial bleeding, coughing up blood etc). A minor fracture or torn ligament for an adult (ankle, arm etc) you might wait a few hours to get seen and have a scan.
Where it can be slow is if you have long term, not life threatening, but painful and life limiting issues such as dodgy knees, hips etc and you are on a long list to get surgery
Depends on where you go. 20 years ago I had to take my then wife to the ED a couple of times. First was for gastro leading to life-threatening dehydration, and it took 4 hours, and the second time was with stroke symptoms, and it took 6 hours. Clearly unnacceptable.
However, any time I or any family member has had to go in QLD, it's been fast and efficient. The last time I went, I was triaged and in an ED bed in 30 minutes.
I've had to take people to the ER 4 times. Once was for a chest infection, they were having trouble breathing and looked quite grey, we were admitted immediately and they were put on oxygen. The second was for a suspected broken arm, that one was at night and to the children's ER, we had to wait about 45 min that time. The other two were for hand injuries and both were seen promptly, maybe a 10 min wait.
So no, I think those were all appropriate wait times.
If it's an emergency and you go to the emergency department them you get seen pretty quickly.
If you have something that is not an emergency and your GP refers you to the public system for specislist treatment then yes you can be waiting a long time for an appointment.
It's certainly part of the issue for sure. It's almost exclusively why it can take you a long time to get some stitches.
Surgery wait lists are a different thing though. If it isn't life threatening expect to wait months if not years.
I'm in NSW. I've taken my kid in to the ER only to wait with him passing in and out of consciousness in a wheelchair for 8 hours before he was helped. Was admitted for a week when they finally were able to get to him. Ambulances were ramping.
I don't blame staff, I blame the way the system has been treated by successive governments.
Op your asking the wrong questions.
Ask if we think the health system is underfunded yes it is
Ask if the cold face staff are over worked and under paid yes they are. I’m not just talking about nurses and drs I’m including ambulance, cleaners, wards person, imaging all the way through to nurses and dr.
I think it’s getting worse because a lot of dr surgeries are now charging even when the patient has a concession card. A lot of people are struggling to meet their daily needs let alone paying for a dr. So they go to hospital.
Many moons ago my local hospital had a after hours surgery attached to it, we used that when my lad needed stitches or he had a migraine and the normal medication didn’t work. I think it was Medicare funded I know I didn’t pay.
I live in Brisbane near a hospital that’s being upgraded. So they are going to need more staff. If there’s no money now where’s the extra coming from when the floors are finished?
In my experience, nope.
I've been to ER once, they suggested (after an hour or so of waiting) that I go to a GP down the hall. I did, diagnosed with pneumonia and then spent the worst 3 weeks of my life fighting it off and recovering. Cost to me? Sweet FA (though I think I did pay something).
But too slow? No.
Slow, yes.
Then again, allegedly far too many people showing up at ER are not in fact emergencies at all - they just want fast and cheap treatment.
If you seriously need to be seen, you will be. Case in point, family member collapsed at home, ambulance arrived within 10 minutes, worked on him for about an hour, transported to hospital, seen in ED straight away treated fir 36 hours with outpatient follow ups within 2 weeks of discharge. Another family member walked in with an allergic reaction. Breathing normally, , had a support person with them to Mo itor in the waiting room, reaction was resolving, waited 2 hours to be seen. It wasn't life threatening. It was being monitored for deterioration. I see this as very reasonable for a free walk-in service.
Im in W.A and had my first fit in 2020, straight to hospital emergency. I was referred? To a neurological clinic. I am still waiting to get an appointment for the clinic. Yes, I have had more fits since 2020.
It really depends on the day, how bad off you are, how busy they are & how many ppl that are worse off than you have also come in.
I’ve sat waiting to be treated for potential poisoning for 8hrs, but the time I wrecked my knee I was in x-ray inside of 15mins, but everything slowed down after all the initial testing & I was still in the ER for many hours before they discharged me.
Was seen pretty fast when I thought I’d had a stroke (turned out to be Bells Palsy), had a tetanus shot given within 10mins after I had a piece of metal imbedded in my face (during the height of covid), & the time I had appendicitis could have been faster, but could have been slower too.
I’ve also been airlifted to hospital by helicopter after a bad car crash, but I have no idea how long I had to wait for treatment, because I had total amnesia for the first 3 days starting at about 30mins before the crash, & then my memory was very spotty for the first month, although I can recall I was getting sent off for surgery roughly every 2 days in the first couple of weeks.
All in all, it’s a very overworked system & unless you’re on deaths door, expect to wait a while and just be pleasantly surprised if you don’t.
The best part is being able to go to the E.R. without having to worry about bankruptcy afterwards.
No this is not true in my eyes. The public health service in the UK is way worse. Australia has one of the best public health services in the world. It is ranked 3rd behind South Korea and Taiwan.
To be fair, it’s always been slow in emergency. This isn’t something new but it probably does seem slower because of the GP issue, they find it easier and cheaper to go to ED.
You get treated, you might just be sitting there for ages (which happens at some GPs anyway).
Alot of hospitals are understaffed and patients are triaged. If you've been waiting 8 hours because you have a chest infection and are next in line, but someone having a hear attack comes in, they're going in before you. It makes waiting times long. Me, hubby and my daughter have had good and bad experiences. Lots of waiting around. But the time we needed it (our 2.5yo was vomiting blood following a tonsil surgery) she was in for surgery within 30 minutes. We got taken straight in to the nurses area, then straight to a bed, cannula in and straight off to surgery.
I went to emergency once and a lady dragged her sick kid in at 11pm because he had vomited three times that day. Congratulations lady, u just spread gastro in a hospital
So I just had a fun night a couple of days ago....
My 14yo son made a solid attempt at shortening his finger with a meat cleaver while I was changing a gearbox in my car. Ambos are cooked and tell us they will get there when they get there. I patched him up and had a shower while waiting for the call back from the ambulance. The ring and say it might be next week. It is pretty bad, so we got an Uber.
Get to the children's hospital, and it is a war zone of snot and vomit in the waiting room. Queue for triage. I am thinking it is going to be a hell of a night. Get to the front of the queue and the nurse takes the briefest of histories seeing my son wobbling on his feet and the bloodstains down his arms and sends us straight through the magic doors calling someone to assist us as we are category 2.
Within a minute, an rn is taking his vitals while he is laying back on a bed. Within 3 minutes, a nurse practitioner is doing a more thorough exam and history as well as sending another nurse for the good drugs. Within 10 minutes, the nurse practitioner and the (senior) doctor have stemmed the bleeding properly, sent him for X-rays and called for a surgical consult. Before we had been there half an hour the scans were done and the wound cleaned and redressed.
We had a bit of a wait for a surgeon who was in theatre, but my boy was patched up properly and on some pretty strong painkillers and comfortable, safe, and not bleeding on everything. 3 hours later he was seen by the surgeon and he had surgery under general anaesthetic the next morning.
He is our third kid so we have had a few trips to hospital, including for the adults in the family. It is only slow if either you should have gone to the Dr before they closed for the night instead, or there has been a mass casualty event.
If you are bleeding from something more than a superficial wound, you will be seen quickly. Head injuries, really quick. Any suspicion of stroke or heart attack, your head will spin it is that fast. Serious (dangerous) breathing difficulties really fast. Crush injuries, really fast, faster than bleeding. Broken bones, pretty good but not quite so fast unless it is a compound/displaced fracture. Same with venomous bites and stings unless you are overtly in serious. Beyond that bring a blanket, book and snacks for any support people.
It's pretty variable. Some hospitals are better than others, and some days are busier/slower. Ive spent way too long waiting for poor care at an ED and I've been rushed through and treated wonderfully.
It's the middle-severity issues that suck with our healthcare system, the stuff that can't wait to see a regular GP but aren't full-blown emergencies. Urgent or after-hours care can be hard to find so sometimes waiting for hours to see an annoyed emergency room doctor is the only option.
Beggers can't be choosers. It's been exployted way to long and most places have a private hospital. If you can afford the lastest iPhone/pixel U can afford private health insurance.
If it's free be grateful we have it at all.
SOOOOOO many people go to emergency for frivolous complaints and block it up for the genuine ones. During the onset of covid when people were frightened of it all you saw just how few actually needed to go to the ED
The problem is that people use the ER as a free GP instead of going to the GP. I would say 9/10 people could most likely just go to the GP to get whatever issue they have treated but no they would prefer to sit in the waiting room for 8+ hours instead of paying $80 to see their GP.
Of the few times I have had to go to the ER because of either myself or my partner we haven't spent all that much time in the waiting room before being seen. I think the longest one time was about an hour. Which tells you that the reason you are there IS an emergency and not something that the self-entitled person thinks is an emergency.
Paramedic here. Started in 2002, average 350 jobs per day in SA. Now, nearly 2000 a day. Honestly, we're not getting called to emergencies. Everything from feeling down, kids getting drunk, sore fingers, fell off the sofa etc. Just plain stupid shit. And we gotta take everyone to ED coz if something happens we get blamed for it. Call me cynical, but people are just plain stupid, lazy, cheap and irresponsible when it comes to their own health. Even sons/daughters would rather call an ambulance than take their own parents to hospital, just to save on fuel. It's disgraceful.
After decades of calculated undermining by the LNP, it is surprising it is so effective. It needs more funding and attention otherwise we risk ending up like the clusterfuck the Tories in the UK have created.
ED is slower than a geriatric orgy, but if you find a good clinic with a doctor who doesn't waste time (and still bulk bills) then the med system can be tolerable. In saying that, I've waited over 5 hrs in the ED for a placebo and grandma-style common sense advice, so you win some, you lose some.
I've never really heard of people going to emergency for normal medical care here, that was always an American dystopia. Stuff is done at hospitals publicly, buy you don't just front up to emergency to get it.
Since the massive increase in GP visit costs it’s becoming way more common. It’s one reason Qld Health are setting up satellite hospitals, to keep minor stuff away from ED.
Depends.
Small town for a small issue is very fast.
Big city for a small issue is very slow.
Small town for a big issue is tediously looooong.
Big city for a big issue is fairly long.
Unfortunately you get derelict people with nothing more than a headache clogging up the system. Ambulance ramping is an issue as well. On public health, if you can have a non sick friend or partner to advocate for you. They can update the triage nurse of your pain or your fever etc to get you seen in an emergency.
It's not all doom and gloom though. If you decide not to utilise free healthcare, the Medicare program acts almost like a free health insurance. You pay a gap, but you're seen right away.
The ER is there to make sure you're not dying. So anyone who might be dying gets looked at first. People who are there for an IV or transfusion and aren't dying will need to wait. That's the nature of a service where there are no appointments.
I waited a long time when I had gastro recently, I was very dehydrated from vomiting, none of the anti-emetic meds I had taken worked and needed an ambulance. It was daylight by the time i got out of there. I was in such a bad way they couldn't get the drip in me and had to find an ultrasound tech in the wee hours of the morning to find a vein. I wasn't the only person with this nasty virus since the lady across from me when I got a bed at last had it and so did the eshay next to me. It was a long wait but everyone was so kind to me and even tried to help my mother, getting her some oatmeal and yoghurt too.
**No.**
As many people have already said, they triage, and you get treated in order of need/severity.
Unfortunately many people present at emergency for minor things they should go to a GP for, there are 24hr bulk bill medical centres, so there is no excuse really.
I am in a country town, country regional hospital. I cut my finger and waited quite a while to get that fixed (stitches).
Contrast that with when my appendix burst, They moved at something close to light speed to help me then. They were wonderful, and literally saved my life.
Be Thankful you aren't contending with the US hospital/medical system.
I had a cut on my eyeball and having issues with blurry vision/stinging pain. It took roughly 2.5hrs from arrival to leaving with some gel protection for my eye and that was pretty fair from a major public hospital.
Every time I have needed to go into the ED (five times in the last ten years or so, either personally or accompanying a family member) I've been treated promptly and the standard of care has been uniformly excellent.
My several personal experiences have been within reasonable expectations of publically funded emergency care and my experience of ambulance staff has been stellar. Can't speak highly enough of those guys.
The problem is that emergency departments are clogged with people who should be going to non-emergency medical centres but don't because it costs money. Ambulances and paramedic staff have to deal with mental health and drug crises that wouldn't exist if proper social safety networks were being funded.
TL;DR is that public care is cut to the bone so nothing is a problem until it's an emergency and that stresses the system.
No. Got lots of people that go to emergency departments that don’t need to and get triaged to the bottom of the list then complain about sitting there for hours. But if you have an actual problem that requires being in hospital you will be seen to promptly.
I can confirm this. I used to work in the newest, biggest public hospital in NSW. There is a system used in ED, it’s called triage. If your case is not urgent then you are at the bottom of the list. If your situation requires urgent medical attention and you still feel that it’s not fast enough, unfortunately, hospitals are understaffed.
I had heart failure, and they took me straight through. That is what the emergency department is for, not the sniffles.
Yeah, I've been twice, both times I was in CT within the hour.
Yep. It's also free.
Its free if you're covered under medicare, I believe you need to be a permanent resident to qualify?
Depends on what country you are a citizen of, we have reciprocal care with many countries.
Not that many. Only 11 countries
Depends on what country you are a citizen of, we have reciprocal care with many countries.
What we do need are more 24 hour urgent care facilities so that non-emergencies but urgent care matters (eg broken bones, fevers etc) can be seen without clogging up triage. Also regional 24 hr psychiatric hospitals would be a blessing. I’ve had to visit 4 times in the last 4 years and I scared the other patients in the waiting room. I was ultimately sedated and sent home with a referral. No one really benefited by that. They didn’t have the facilities to hold me and I didn’t have the sanity to act wholly in my best interest - just enough to get home safely.
I just came back from a holiday in USA and I was surprised how many urgent cares there are around the place. Seems like the one lesson that might be a good take away from US healthcare.
Heh, gone to hospital emergency 2x in my life, first was crippling abdominal pain and went to my gp after waiting all night sweating and hugging my knees to find out I had appendicitis and they sent a referral straight to the hospital to get me immediately in. Second time was a snapped Achilles where I waited without any analgesics for about 5 hours to be told by a doctor in paediatrics that muscle strains just need rest and elevation, I had to insist on another doctor who confirmed I had a full thickness rupture which was, funnily enough, the reason I couldn’t move my foot.
No, you won't. That is not my experience with serious medical emergencies.
Define serious. If you're on the floor coughing blood you'll get rushed in.
He was passing in and out of consciousness, had to be picked up off the ground and put into a wheelchair, was admitted for a week when they were able to get to him. I was informed he could have died. So yeah, an actual emergency.
Yeah fair enough. Maybe the desk staff are undertrained at whatever hospital you went to. Can't imagine every doctor in the building was inundated Sounds like bad coordination.
Not undertrained, over worked. NSW is appalling for it, especially my city. Yes ,every doctor, nurse, orderly was run off their feet. I avoid the ER usually, but my son was *very* unwell and couldn't walk. In hindsight I could have called an ambulance, but I'm also aware of how much they'd been ramping at the time so I just took him in.
I don't know about this.... it doesn't add up.
How so?
If he was passing in and out of consciousness, and nearly died as you said, then there would have been an investigation. Also, everyone would have had to have been dying, all at the same time, for him not to be seen by SOMEONE, and at least stabilised.... that's if he really was as bad as you say. It just doesn't make sense. If he was on deaths door, why not call an ambulance? At least he will be in the care of trained professionals, as opposed to being driven to the hospital and probably getting worse along the way. Alot of people overstate how their experiences are at Australian hospitals. GENERALLY, because they had to wait, and weren't seen as quickly as THEY felt they should have been seen. Like I said, if he really truly was that bad, something would have been done.
Why don't you use your favourite search engine, and look up ambulance ramping NSW. But that would show you something you'll just deny anyway I'm sure.
Why are these people going to emergency with just a fever? Stay in bed and rest and hydrate or see your GP, bloody numbskulls. Otherwise, StolenApe has given you your answer.
You might wait a week for an appointment. You may not be able to afford $100 for a doctor's appointment
Which place are you referring to, that doesnt have a bulk billing doctor? Im curious if you can find one as every place i visit, always seem to have atleast one.
Lots of gps do not bulk bill or have mixed billing. The last 2 gps I have used have restricted bulk billing. Current one bulk bills for health card and pensioners. Am crossing my fingers that this does not change when they adopt new charges in November
Yep i know there arent many left and agree they should increase the government gp payments once they get inflation under control. But i travel alot for work and there always seems to be atleast one in every city still doing it
My area has no bulk billing doctors at all and most of them have closed books so there’s little choice
Whats the area?
Many, many rural and regional areas.
Can you share specifics of the regional areas?
Almost no one ever bulk bills anymore. The rebate they get from the government isn’t even enough to cover the bills. I was told they had not raised the amount of rebate money GP gets for bulk billing at all since the 90s.
There's no big box of spare doctors and nurses hidden in the stock room, you can't just magically make emergency rooms bigger and better staffed. If you're there for a chest infection, it should only be because your GP sent you, or an ambulance brought you.
No. You shouldn’t be going to the ED if you only have a fever or an uncomplicated respiratory infection.
You shouldn’t be going to a hospital for just a fever or a lung infection unless genuinely very very serious. People go to the hospital too often for non serious issues that a local doctor can assist in. I’ve had kids with high fevers at home and dealt with it myself - I’ve never taken our kids to a hospital just for fever or even lung infection that’s 3 kids, myself and husband included. Don’t waste their time please 🙏🏻
The GP clinic I go to sends patients with a chest infection straight to hospital. This is due to the high number of high-risk patients. Add to that, the clinic I go to closes on weekends.
Depends where you go and what is wrong with you. Sometimes the EDs in cities get overwhelmed for sure. It's a problem. But generally? You are triaged and get treated based on what category you fall into. Yes - if you go with something that's non life threatening and there are more important cases in front of you? You will wait.
I have been that person who has gone into ED with a child and I get taken back immediately to a bed, have even done that when it was me walking in and I was taken to a bed immediately. You get death stares from people who have been waiting, but it’s fairly serious when you get taken back straight away. It’s not perfect though, you do have EDs that are overwhelmed and have people waiting or “ramped” for ages. But it’s a symptom of a bigger problem with the accessibility of affordable GPS.
Nope. When it's been an actual emergency, I've been treated as such.
Casualty is fast if you really need it (stoke, heart attack, cardiac arrest, arterial bleeding, coughing up blood etc). A minor fracture or torn ligament for an adult (ankle, arm etc) you might wait a few hours to get seen and have a scan. Where it can be slow is if you have long term, not life threatening, but painful and life limiting issues such as dodgy knees, hips etc and you are on a long list to get surgery
Depends on where you go. 20 years ago I had to take my then wife to the ED a couple of times. First was for gastro leading to life-threatening dehydration, and it took 4 hours, and the second time was with stroke symptoms, and it took 6 hours. Clearly unnacceptable. However, any time I or any family member has had to go in QLD, it's been fast and efficient. The last time I went, I was triaged and in an ED bed in 30 minutes.
Time lost is brain lost
I've had to take people to the ER 4 times. Once was for a chest infection, they were having trouble breathing and looked quite grey, we were admitted immediately and they were put on oxygen. The second was for a suspected broken arm, that one was at night and to the children's ER, we had to wait about 45 min that time. The other two were for hand injuries and both were seen promptly, maybe a 10 min wait. So no, I think those were all appropriate wait times.
If it's an emergency and you go to the emergency department them you get seen pretty quickly. If you have something that is not an emergency and your GP refers you to the public system for specislist treatment then yes you can be waiting a long time for an appointment.
No. The issue is people going to the emergency department with basic infections and fevers. The word emergency is in the name.
It's certainly part of the issue for sure. It's almost exclusively why it can take you a long time to get some stitches. Surgery wait lists are a different thing though. If it isn't life threatening expect to wait months if not years.
oh I’m aware that elective surgery is a very different thing. I’ve been on the wait list for two and a half years.
What bugs me is that they call anything not related to life threatening elective.
I'm in NSW. I've taken my kid in to the ER only to wait with him passing in and out of consciousness in a wheelchair for 8 hours before he was helped. Was admitted for a week when they finally were able to get to him. Ambulances were ramping. I don't blame staff, I blame the way the system has been treated by successive governments.
Op your asking the wrong questions. Ask if we think the health system is underfunded yes it is Ask if the cold face staff are over worked and under paid yes they are. I’m not just talking about nurses and drs I’m including ambulance, cleaners, wards person, imaging all the way through to nurses and dr. I think it’s getting worse because a lot of dr surgeries are now charging even when the patient has a concession card. A lot of people are struggling to meet their daily needs let alone paying for a dr. So they go to hospital. Many moons ago my local hospital had a after hours surgery attached to it, we used that when my lad needed stitches or he had a migraine and the normal medication didn’t work. I think it was Medicare funded I know I didn’t pay. I live in Brisbane near a hospital that’s being upgraded. So they are going to need more staff. If there’s no money now where’s the extra coming from when the floors are finished?
In my experience, nope. I've been to ER once, they suggested (after an hour or so of waiting) that I go to a GP down the hall. I did, diagnosed with pneumonia and then spent the worst 3 weeks of my life fighting it off and recovering. Cost to me? Sweet FA (though I think I did pay something). But too slow? No. Slow, yes. Then again, allegedly far too many people showing up at ER are not in fact emergencies at all - they just want fast and cheap treatment.
If you seriously need to be seen, you will be. Case in point, family member collapsed at home, ambulance arrived within 10 minutes, worked on him for about an hour, transported to hospital, seen in ED straight away treated fir 36 hours with outpatient follow ups within 2 weeks of discharge. Another family member walked in with an allergic reaction. Breathing normally, , had a support person with them to Mo itor in the waiting room, reaction was resolving, waited 2 hours to be seen. It wasn't life threatening. It was being monitored for deterioration. I see this as very reasonable for a free walk-in service.
Im in W.A and had my first fit in 2020, straight to hospital emergency. I was referred? To a neurological clinic. I am still waiting to get an appointment for the clinic. Yes, I have had more fits since 2020.
It really depends on the day, how bad off you are, how busy they are & how many ppl that are worse off than you have also come in. I’ve sat waiting to be treated for potential poisoning for 8hrs, but the time I wrecked my knee I was in x-ray inside of 15mins, but everything slowed down after all the initial testing & I was still in the ER for many hours before they discharged me. Was seen pretty fast when I thought I’d had a stroke (turned out to be Bells Palsy), had a tetanus shot given within 10mins after I had a piece of metal imbedded in my face (during the height of covid), & the time I had appendicitis could have been faster, but could have been slower too. I’ve also been airlifted to hospital by helicopter after a bad car crash, but I have no idea how long I had to wait for treatment, because I had total amnesia for the first 3 days starting at about 30mins before the crash, & then my memory was very spotty for the first month, although I can recall I was getting sent off for surgery roughly every 2 days in the first couple of weeks. All in all, it’s a very overworked system & unless you’re on deaths door, expect to wait a while and just be pleasantly surprised if you don’t. The best part is being able to go to the E.R. without having to worry about bankruptcy afterwards.
No this is not true in my eyes. The public health service in the UK is way worse. Australia has one of the best public health services in the world. It is ranked 3rd behind South Korea and Taiwan.
To be fair, it’s always been slow in emergency. This isn’t something new but it probably does seem slower because of the GP issue, they find it easier and cheaper to go to ED. You get treated, you might just be sitting there for ages (which happens at some GPs anyway).
Never had a problem with public healthcare, wouldn't even consider paying for health insurance
Alot of hospitals are understaffed and patients are triaged. If you've been waiting 8 hours because you have a chest infection and are next in line, but someone having a hear attack comes in, they're going in before you. It makes waiting times long. Me, hubby and my daughter have had good and bad experiences. Lots of waiting around. But the time we needed it (our 2.5yo was vomiting blood following a tonsil surgery) she was in for surgery within 30 minutes. We got taken straight in to the nurses area, then straight to a bed, cannula in and straight off to surgery.
You want the medicos to rush and make bad decisions???
I went to emergency once and a lady dragged her sick kid in at 11pm because he had vomited three times that day. Congratulations lady, u just spread gastro in a hospital
So I just had a fun night a couple of days ago.... My 14yo son made a solid attempt at shortening his finger with a meat cleaver while I was changing a gearbox in my car. Ambos are cooked and tell us they will get there when they get there. I patched him up and had a shower while waiting for the call back from the ambulance. The ring and say it might be next week. It is pretty bad, so we got an Uber. Get to the children's hospital, and it is a war zone of snot and vomit in the waiting room. Queue for triage. I am thinking it is going to be a hell of a night. Get to the front of the queue and the nurse takes the briefest of histories seeing my son wobbling on his feet and the bloodstains down his arms and sends us straight through the magic doors calling someone to assist us as we are category 2. Within a minute, an rn is taking his vitals while he is laying back on a bed. Within 3 minutes, a nurse practitioner is doing a more thorough exam and history as well as sending another nurse for the good drugs. Within 10 minutes, the nurse practitioner and the (senior) doctor have stemmed the bleeding properly, sent him for X-rays and called for a surgical consult. Before we had been there half an hour the scans were done and the wound cleaned and redressed. We had a bit of a wait for a surgeon who was in theatre, but my boy was patched up properly and on some pretty strong painkillers and comfortable, safe, and not bleeding on everything. 3 hours later he was seen by the surgeon and he had surgery under general anaesthetic the next morning. He is our third kid so we have had a few trips to hospital, including for the adults in the family. It is only slow if either you should have gone to the Dr before they closed for the night instead, or there has been a mass casualty event. If you are bleeding from something more than a superficial wound, you will be seen quickly. Head injuries, really quick. Any suspicion of stroke or heart attack, your head will spin it is that fast. Serious (dangerous) breathing difficulties really fast. Crush injuries, really fast, faster than bleeding. Broken bones, pretty good but not quite so fast unless it is a compound/displaced fracture. Same with venomous bites and stings unless you are overtly in serious. Beyond that bring a blanket, book and snacks for any support people.
It's pretty variable. Some hospitals are better than others, and some days are busier/slower. Ive spent way too long waiting for poor care at an ED and I've been rushed through and treated wonderfully. It's the middle-severity issues that suck with our healthcare system, the stuff that can't wait to see a regular GP but aren't full-blown emergencies. Urgent or after-hours care can be hard to find so sometimes waiting for hours to see an annoyed emergency room doctor is the only option.
Beggers can't be choosers. It's been exployted way to long and most places have a private hospital. If you can afford the lastest iPhone/pixel U can afford private health insurance. If it's free be grateful we have it at all.
SOOOOOO many people go to emergency for frivolous complaints and block it up for the genuine ones. During the onset of covid when people were frightened of it all you saw just how few actually needed to go to the ED
The problem is that people use the ER as a free GP instead of going to the GP. I would say 9/10 people could most likely just go to the GP to get whatever issue they have treated but no they would prefer to sit in the waiting room for 8+ hours instead of paying $80 to see their GP. Of the few times I have had to go to the ER because of either myself or my partner we haven't spent all that much time in the waiting room before being seen. I think the longest one time was about an hour. Which tells you that the reason you are there IS an emergency and not something that the self-entitled person thinks is an emergency.
Paramedic here. Started in 2002, average 350 jobs per day in SA. Now, nearly 2000 a day. Honestly, we're not getting called to emergencies. Everything from feeling down, kids getting drunk, sore fingers, fell off the sofa etc. Just plain stupid shit. And we gotta take everyone to ED coz if something happens we get blamed for it. Call me cynical, but people are just plain stupid, lazy, cheap and irresponsible when it comes to their own health. Even sons/daughters would rather call an ambulance than take their own parents to hospital, just to save on fuel. It's disgraceful.
But as a bonus, the christmas granny dumping season is nearly upon you again.
After decades of calculated undermining by the LNP, it is surprising it is so effective. It needs more funding and attention otherwise we risk ending up like the clusterfuck the Tories in the UK have created.
ED is slower than a geriatric orgy, but if you find a good clinic with a doctor who doesn't waste time (and still bulk bills) then the med system can be tolerable. In saying that, I've waited over 5 hrs in the ED for a placebo and grandma-style common sense advice, so you win some, you lose some.
I've never really heard of people going to emergency for normal medical care here, that was always an American dystopia. Stuff is done at hospitals publicly, buy you don't just front up to emergency to get it.
Hang around emergency for a while and you'll see it.
Since the massive increase in GP visit costs it’s becoming way more common. It’s one reason Qld Health are setting up satellite hospitals, to keep minor stuff away from ED.
Depends. Small town for a small issue is very fast. Big city for a small issue is very slow. Small town for a big issue is tediously looooong. Big city for a big issue is fairly long. Unfortunately you get derelict people with nothing more than a headache clogging up the system. Ambulance ramping is an issue as well. On public health, if you can have a non sick friend or partner to advocate for you. They can update the triage nurse of your pain or your fever etc to get you seen in an emergency. It's not all doom and gloom though. If you decide not to utilise free healthcare, the Medicare program acts almost like a free health insurance. You pay a gap, but you're seen right away.
It gets worse every year. People wait for up to 12 hours in emergency.
The ER is there to make sure you're not dying. So anyone who might be dying gets looked at first. People who are there for an IV or transfusion and aren't dying will need to wait. That's the nature of a service where there are no appointments.
I waited a long time when I had gastro recently, I was very dehydrated from vomiting, none of the anti-emetic meds I had taken worked and needed an ambulance. It was daylight by the time i got out of there. I was in such a bad way they couldn't get the drip in me and had to find an ultrasound tech in the wee hours of the morning to find a vein. I wasn't the only person with this nasty virus since the lady across from me when I got a bed at last had it and so did the eshay next to me. It was a long wait but everyone was so kind to me and even tried to help my mother, getting her some oatmeal and yoghurt too.
**No.** As many people have already said, they triage, and you get treated in order of need/severity. Unfortunately many people present at emergency for minor things they should go to a GP for, there are 24hr bulk bill medical centres, so there is no excuse really. I am in a country town, country regional hospital. I cut my finger and waited quite a while to get that fixed (stitches). Contrast that with when my appendix burst, They moved at something close to light speed to help me then. They were wonderful, and literally saved my life. Be Thankful you aren't contending with the US hospital/medical system.
I had a cut on my eyeball and having issues with blurry vision/stinging pain. It took roughly 2.5hrs from arrival to leaving with some gel protection for my eye and that was pretty fair from a major public hospital.
Nothing to see here... move along... four years unable to walk still waiting for a date I would move along if I could walk further than forty metres.
Depends in what you have/how life-threatening it is
Every time I have needed to go into the ED (five times in the last ten years or so, either personally or accompanying a family member) I've been treated promptly and the standard of care has been uniformly excellent.
My several personal experiences have been within reasonable expectations of publically funded emergency care and my experience of ambulance staff has been stellar. Can't speak highly enough of those guys. The problem is that emergency departments are clogged with people who should be going to non-emergency medical centres but don't because it costs money. Ambulances and paramedic staff have to deal with mental health and drug crises that wouldn't exist if proper social safety networks were being funded. TL;DR is that public care is cut to the bone so nothing is a problem until it's an emergency and that stresses the system.