Select to expand quoteDezman said..Stubbies said..
$75 to see my Doctor, and he's no quack. Sometimes have to wait a while in the waiting room, as the man takes time with each patient and doesn't guess/diagnose you before your bum can touch the seat in the surgery. Usually spends at least 10-15 minutes with patients, in the past I've been in with him up to 45 minutes whilst he diagnoses and organizes specialists and/or tests. If unable to afford his rate he bulk bills, good guy.
Medicare rebate is $36 so actual cost to visit my doc is $39. Cost is irrelevant when you are ill or in pain, so if $5 is too much then you aint sick...
Gee it seems you guys over in the west are short on doctors with costs and waiting times! Or am I wrong in thinking that?
Here on the central coast it's a day or two for an appointment that's bulk billed, when I lived on the Gold Coast there was a shortage once and a super clinic with a lot of young smart doctors opened with no appointments but just take a seat. Well within a year the wait increased and my doctor is saying sorry for the wait, still bulk billed.
Funny the other clinics that had closed books or higher fees started bulk billing and begging for business.
When I was in tamworth the pharmacy said don't even try and see a doctor! There were rules stopping people changing doctors there, but there was some openings to new people to town but weeks of waiting!
There is a good reason I think that doctors are not paided to much or else they will retire early leaving gaps in the system.
I don't envy their job though! Imagine what they have to look at each day, no amount of money is worth it.
Right on the button with "Doctor shortage"... due to the huge influx of people from the east coast and internationally, (apparently over 400,000 in the last 8 years), for jobs in mining and associated support industries, (and to make driving anywhere much slower due to road congestion), hasn't helped. Western Australia has continued to record the fastest growth rate of all states and territories at 3.3% per year, with at December 2013 a population of 2,517,200. Slightly more bods than SA but less living in the entire state of WA than living in the Melbourne metro area, and WA is a third of the landmass. Doctors are like the rest of us, especially the young guys starting out, they are going to go where it's cheap to start up and where the bodies are. While we have some of the bodies, due to property prices and cost of leasing, they are going to see a profit far quicker if they stay or go to the east coast or large country centres...
Select to expand quoteToph said..cisco said..
If it means I can get a 10 minute appointment instead of a 5 minute one, I am all for it.
I'll be happy to just have my appointment run on time instead of waiting for up to an hour afterwards 
Rex said..
This is at the heart of the problem, there needs to be a level of service below a doctor that is easily accessible, most of my visits to the GP were for stuff that a RN could have done. The system needs an overhaul.
If I have a head cold or sinus I cant go to work, but my employer wants me to get a medical cert. I believe chemists can issue them, but the two closest chemists to me wont, so it is off to the Doc for something that I plainly know what is wrong and what to take.
In the UK you can Self-Certify that you are unfit for work for short absences (2 days from memory).
That is something that should be allowed here, as with any system it can be open to abuse, but if I'm too sick to come into to work (and infect people there) then I'm too sick to drag my ass into the local GP to wait with everyone else (and pick up their lurgies as my immune system is already comprimised, or infect the oldies on their chat day) just to get a piece of paper that states I'm sick. Waste of time all round.
If we need the paperwork we might as well just have a "Sick Notes" queue manned by admin staff that you walk up too "I'm sick", stamp, "Next!"
Has anyone ever fronted the GP and been refused the sick note?
