Jacko1

So who said it was crap??????

We had to take our youngest to A & E following him being dragged by arm by his brother!!!

He was seen within 5 mins and sorted (just strained muscles) ASAP

This would have taken two hours + in UK hospital


Bye for now

PJ

Wol

It all depends on the time of day, location etc, doesn't it?

There was a four hour wait at A & E in the USA before even being triaged following a car accident.

Demand exceeds supply in every country, and under all systems. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not!

bondipom

Only got back $55 for an ultrasound that cost $195 the other day. Excellent pics and we were seen to promptly but you pay for it.

My only experience of A&E was excellent but that was on a Monday morning.

NJJ

Depends where you live. My local public hospital A+E in the UK was always excellent when myself or anyone I knew had to go there. Whereas I had to goto box hill hospital in Melbourne on a saturday afternoon for some stitches after a sporting incident, got there at 6pm saturday afternoon eventually was getting the stitches put in at about 3am sunday morning after much waiting around with a bandage covering the wound!!

ABCDiamond

I think that quote just about covers it.

G'Day

I got a call at work a while back to say my eldest son got his hand stuck in a circular saw at school, lost bits & he was being rushed to DANDENONG hospital :scared: Got there to find he'd been stabilized and was awaiting surgery. (Nearly died when I saw what had happened ). Had to wait three hours but in the end he had 2 plastic surgeons in there working on his hand and a damn good job they did too! They took x-rays, then built up the thumb again, covered the bone with flesh taken from his palm, took skin from his other hand to graft so that he did not lose the sensation of touch in his thumb, fixed muscles so everything worked the way it should, immobilized it and followed up for weeks afterwards to ensure everything healed and worked the way it should. Today, unless he places both thumbs next to each other so you can notice the one is a bit shorter (0.5cm), you wouldn't know that he almost lost a digit. It didn't cost us a cent either as Medicare covered it completely.

I will not winge. Yes, we had to wait, but no-one was dying and they never ever leave a patient unattended when they come in a with an injury -they always check it out and stabilize the patient first. I've seen worse and been in worse hospitals. Besides which... if I had to pay for this (even with a private medical) it would have cost me an arm and a leg. Truly the service was outstanding under the circumstances and the results fantastic. Considering that this is the public hospital with probably the worst reputation in Melbourne .......what more can I say?

Dreamaway 10

Interesting lets hope it is better than the NHS

janeyray

I don't think we should knock any type of medical care when it's free. The NHS is as good as Medicare, there were certain drugs I couldn't get (allergy drugs) with a medicare card so I had to buy them over the counter. $75 for a nasal spray that only lasts about 3 weeks isn't cheap!

The medical care we received seemed ok, nothing special just medical care. No different from NHS. Although being sent to Perth city to collect a certain drug (anti D) when I was having a miscarriage is not what I call state of the art medical care. The doctor was unable to give me the injection as they were 'low on supplies' so I had to drive to the city to fetch it myself !!???

I'm sure we all have different stories good and bad.

Dreamaway 10

Fair enough Jayneyray you sound as though you had a rough time.

Larissa

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience Janeyray, I don't think there's any excuse to send a miscarrying woman across town and I feel quite angry and disappointed that the doctor concerned didn't do all he could for you.
I hope things are going well for you back in the UK.



I was also wondering if anyone could explain what services are/ aren't covered by medicare. I'm currently researching private medical care, but the coverage is meaningless without knowing exactly what medicare covers. (I suspect an ABC moment will now occur... ) I've got an "idea" but in no way consider myself informed.
Thanks
Larissa

ABCDiamond

Not sure i will give much help just now, as I am not at my best at the moment, I may need to go to the doctor for an Xray on Tuesday, or the Hospital tomorrow if my ankle gets any worse. I had a little a fall

Funny thing is that I did a similar thing almost exactly 4 years ago, and the pain feels the same too !!! That time I did break my ankle. On that occasion I went to the doctors, who "bulk billed" which means I paid nothing, they then sent me to the Xray place, who also "bulk billed". It wasn't a local one, as I was interstate at the time. They found a fracture, and I returned to the doctor, who plastered me up, still covered under bulk billing. ( I wasn't plastered at the time of the fall ) If I had wanted the light fibre glass plaster that would have cost extra.

On returning to my local area, and after the required time in the plaster, I went to see a local doctor, (also bulk billed), who removed the plaster, and I had it re-xrayed (that may have been before the plaster was removed). An appointment was then made for a few weekly sessions with a physio-therapist at the local hospital, again free, until I got full ankle movement again. I was very happy with all this treatment.

I have also spent a few weeks (8) hospitalised after a previous accident, and all treatment was covered under Medicare. However, I did not get a private ward or choice of Doctor.

I may be very unlucky with broken bones, but I think i've been lucky with the treatment


I have put some basic info on this web page:
http://www.abcdiamond.com.au/info_medical.htm

I did have Private medical cover for my first year here, but never renewed it. So far I am on the right side of the saved $. But one day, something may happen, and I may have to go on a waiting list, or pay for it out of savings.

glittababe

Janeyray thats completely unacceptable, you poor thing. There is no excuse for that treatment. We also had bad experiences of medicare while we were in Qld. As a nurse who works in an excellent NHS hospital in Essex, I was shocked by the poor standard of care. We had to use the local hospital in Redland Bay twice, once for my son Aaron and the other time for my youndgest Ollie. Both times the care was unacceptable. Even the surgeon that was called in to perform emergency op on son was appalled at the level and standard of care and the fact that my son waited over 8 hrs for an op that should have been done within the first hour of him arriving in A&E. Our other son became very ill, lost 4 kg in weight, was short of breath, had blue lips and ears, lethargic and was having night temps of over 40 degrees. We took him to the GP who referred him to the hospital. The Dr there checked him over, dipped his urine (it was negative) and told us to get some paracetamol suppositories for him from the chemist as he was so tired he wouldn't wake up for Calpol!!!!! We were devastated and frustrated as we knew something was wrong! (incidentally the paracetamol supps cost us $20)! As soon as we landed we got him to an NHS Dr who realised the seriousness of it. Within 24 hrs he had had SO many tests done, a chest x ray the works and all for free. His bloods were abnormal so hes having further tests etc but the care has been fabulous. We're all so thankful that we're back in the UK, and thankful we're in an area where the NHS is great.

Sorry but some things are more important than the weather!

Larissa

Thanks ABC, that's really handy, but I'm still dithering! I'll check out the links too.
I hope your Xray goes well tomorrow and that ankle gets better quick!
ATB
Larissa

sophia

hiya guys

As has been said before different people have different experiences, both with Medicare and with the NHS. My two cents worth is that for me, both have been great. I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 28 whilst pregnant and the care I got from the NHS hospitals were second to none.

I am still under the oncologist but here at Royal Perth Hospital and I can't fault them so far. My check ups are regular, I am generally mammogrammed, chest xrayed, bloods done and ultrasound scanned to within an inch of my life everytime I go..and so far none of it has cost me a penny...well apart from the tamoxifen I was taking...but I had to pay for my prescriptions in the UK too.

We had FULL private health cover for the first year we were here, but have now realised that full ancillary cover is enough for us. That gives you ambulance cover (essential cos I hear that's really really expensive..friend of mine just paid $500 for one to take them to hospital!), dental, optical and lots of other stuff. It works pretty well and if you can find a doctor who bulk bills you dont usually have a "gap" fee to pay either.

Depends what you want covering for. check out these sites for more info:

www.hif.com.au
www.medibank.com.au
www.hcf.com.au
www.hbf.com.au

There are loads more if you do a google search. But we're with HIF, their full ancillary cover costs us about $39.00 per fortnight.

Good luck!!

love sophia xxx

moneypenny20

Don't want to be picky but the NHS isn't free. We have all paid via our taxes. Presumably there are people in Britain who have never used a hospital and only seen a GP infrequently - They have still paid to enable us all to use the service.