How to get a GP
 

Been in Aus for 4 years now, never got round to getting a GP.

Feeling under the weather so would like to get one. Have rung a few in my area who say they cannot take any new patients. Very unhelpfully they cannot tell me which doctors can take new patients

Is there any way of finding out which ones are available to save me going through the yellow pages?

I understand that it costs around $55 for a normal consultation but can get $35 back from my Healthcare provider

Re: How to get a GP
 

What area are you in?

Re: How to get a GP
 

This is probably fairly common in Perth, particularly for practices that bulk-bill, but I've also experienced it at practices that don't bulk-bill and charge higher than the scheduled fee. Have you tried practices just around where you live? What about near where you go to work, or somewhere between home and work?

If you need to see someone urgently, you can always go to one of the GP After Hours services in the meantime. It costs more, but if you need medical care now, it might be the best thing. You've done well to avoid a GP for 4 years:thumbsup:.

Re: How to get a GP
 

My husband hasn't been in the 6 years we have been here. I have only been when I had my lapbanding surgery, not for any illness. My kids have had a handful of visits and in 13 years and 8 years respectively, my girls have only had 3 lots of antibiotics between them. Some people just don't get sick.

To the OP, if you are in the Ocean Reef area, my surgery Beaumaris Family Practice was taking new patients but doesn't bulk bill, not even for children.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Sorry to hear that you're under the weather.

I'm not a lot of help and I'm sure that someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon to assist but if I understand correctly the way that things work here, what you ideally need is a "bulk billing GP". This is one which charges the rate which the government recommends and which medicare covers the cost for in it's entirety.

This link might be useful to you

Re: How to get a GP
 

People go to GPs for various reasons, not just because they're sick. In Australia GPs are key to accessing health screening services and various other health professionals. There are a lot of people wandering around with blood lipids that are out of whack, or diabetes, hypertension or cancer and a whole load of other disorders. It is important to have your skin checked for sun damage, or Pap smears, mammograms, etc.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Most of those things would present symptoms though, therefore making you a little ill. I have done the skin cancer checks but I avoid pap smears like the proverbial!!

Re: How to get a GP
 

Go get one you bad, bad girl or I'll take you myself if I have to come over to Perth to do so. :sneaky:

I'm serious. I had pre-cancerous cells removed at the age of 21 and had smears every six months and then every year until I was 35 - no need after that as I no longer have a cervix.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Lots of disorders may be present without showing symptoms or the individual feeling unwell. That's the whole point of preventative health and screening measures. It's easier and cheaper to nip things in the bud, as well as potentially life-saving.

Re: How to get a GP
 

I think that if you have children, paps are a mere inconvenience after what else has happened down there! For the peace of mind or early treatment that they provide they are essential. Teaches the younger generation that it's important and no biggy too..........

Please go and have one!!!

Re: How to get a GP
 

I dont know what it is with the Poms and the need to find a bulk billing doctor - Medicare was designed on a copayment system and unless you are very low income in which case you will have a health care card anyway, it's only going to cost you $30 out of pocket for a regular visit.

I'd just be asking your friends for recommendations then ringing them all until you find one that still has their books open. Sadly, it is usually the best ones that close their books because they are oversubscribed.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Some people I know take their kids to the docs at every sniffle, bumped head etc. If you are seeing a GP a couple of times a month at $30 out of pocket a time I imagine it adds up.

Re: How to get a GP
 

There is a Bulk Billing Medical Centre near Rockingham Council Chambers , its open 7 days a week till 10pm I think,also the out off hours clinic at the Rockingham Hospital is open till 10pm (approx $65 ) they are both walk up ,no appointment needed .

Re: How to get a GP
 

thanks for all your replies.

Ended up going to a 7 day clinic in the city. Consultation was $100, of which i get $46 back from Medicare

Prescription was $52, so all in all an expensive day.

Thinking about it i probably need to upgrade my private health cover: but find the choice of providers etc rather bewildering

Re: How to get a GP
 

Yes, it makes you wonder! If they paid for it then perhaps they wouldnt waste the doctors' time with trivial complaints! There's always the safety net if the cost gets that far out of hand.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Private cover isnt going to make one skerrick of difference to general going to the doctor costs (ie GP and specialists in their rooms) unless you get meds which arent on the PBS.

Hope you are feeling better!

Re: How to get a GP
 

Careful there, "better" private medical insurance may nit have helped you cost wise

Re: How to get a GP
 

I guess it's because we're used to free healthcare. It takes a bit of getting used to having to pay for it (shock horror :eek:) :)

Have to admit that I'm a little surprised that anyone would wait until they're unwell before they register with a GP. Having sorted just about everything else other than the elusive job (:rolleyes:), registering with a GP is one of our next priorities. It's traumatic enough having an unwell one in the family without struggling to find a Health Care Professional to help us. Which reminds me, a new arrival to Canberra that I met recently who's a GP.... Maybe I should put extra special effort into cultivating that friendship! :D:sneaky:

PS: To the OP: I hope you're feeling better now :)

Re: How to get a GP
 

I agree about the antibiotics, many people use them too much. However I go to the doctors every year for my bloods and general check up. We have a family history of heart disease and stroke and diabetes (mainly due to weight). I eat a healthy diet, exercise daily and hard yet still my cholesterol is high(ish). It gives me an indication on what I should or shouldn't be doing. I also have fairly high iron levels so need and want to keep a check on that.

Ps you MUST go for your pap smears. It is your duty to yourself

Re: How to get a GP
 

I registered with almost every GP in the area, makes it easier if I ever find my normal one busy, or closed.

Re: How to get a GP
 

That sounds like a good longer term plan. :thumbup: But for now I'll be happy with just one :D

Re: How to get a GP
 

If you stick to the free services it really can be quite similar to the NHS. ie bulk billing GP - canberra excepted :) - , free hospital, free outpatients specialists (rather than using private specialists) etc. It just has the potential to be more expensive as it seems far easier to go private and have to pay without realising it. Dental is the big exception as it is poorly covered by medicare.

In the UK registering for a GP is a big deal but here, because people can go to any GP they like, registering is often not done until the last minute - even if it is preferable to do so in advance. I have gone to numerous new GP's over the years by giving them a quick call or just waltzing in (usually due to needing one near a new job in addition to the one near my home or something like that).

Re: How to get a GP
 

Talking of PAP smears, I cant believe how quickly the results come in - 3 days later I had mine on the last one, I would wait about 3 weeks in London.

Oh god, PAP smear AND Mammogram both due soon.:eek: Squashing my breasts into those metal plate thingies is no mean feat, its like trying to squash a well plumped pillow.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Just thinking about this further: Won't having several GPs mean that you'll have incomplete medical records floating about the place?

Re: How to get a GP
 

Thanks for your comments. :) I'm a big believer of free health care so it's encouraging to hear from you that it's do-able here. :thumbup:

I'm not sure what the dentists charges over here amount to but I had a whole lot of dental work done privately on my way over to Aus in South Africa and it worked out a lot cheaper than what I would have been charged for so-called NHS work in the UK.

Re: How to get a GP
 

But a very necessary thing to do, whatever you do please take the tests. I knew someone who refused to have them by not visiting her GP for several years. The result was she died from totally treatable causes. :(

Re: How to get a GP
 

Dont worry, in Canberra you will be struggling to find one that will take you!:rofl:

Re: How to get a GP
 

Try having a small B-cup and going through it - very little to squash and I often end up with achey bones!

I'm puzzled that so many of you seem to have problems finding a GP. We're obviously very lucky as in Sydney it seems very straight forward - I've seen 5 different GPs now on two sides of the bridge. There's a place in Newtown I can just drop in and see whoever's on duty, e.g., went and got some antibiotics when I was really under the weather (rare I take them, but I needed them) and they bulk-bill.

Otherwise I go to a clinic in town for my longer-term and preventative care; I pay something towards that but the Medicare amount is taken off electronically there and then. The only thing I can whinge about is that I see the naturopath more often then I see the GP, and that's not claimable.

Re: How to get a GP
 

:rofl: :D

Re: How to get a GP
 

They do them free for all women over 40 in WA, I had my first one two years ago and I am due this year, they do them every two years. In the UK they do them over 50 unless you have a mother or aunt that had cancer which is bollocks, total bollocks, my friend was diagnosed at 41 with no family history, I do sometimes wonder if it is a cost cutting thing and this stupid age for PAP smears, my 20 year old friend went to have one and was turned away.

I wont miss my appointments thats for sure.

Re: How to get a GP
 

I have a lovely GP - Mr PP and I both go to them, excellent surgery and facilities. And I have a GP for when I am working in the city.

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I'm not sure how that all works, but it hasn't seemed to be a problem so far, after quite some years.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Yes, it does. You need to keep your wits about you, remembering which GP ordered which test, what the result was, etc. The Australian system allows individuals more choice, but it can also be abused in terms of drugs used illicitly and tests being carried out several times unnecessarily. It can also lead to poly-pharmacy situations happening, with interactions between drugs not being picked up if one GP prescribes one thing and a 2nd GP another and the patient doesn't tell them. There is a movement towards electronic health records to prevent this type of thing happening.

If an illness develops, useful records might be held by a GP and not accessed by the other, or by a hospital. When it comes to kids, it seems even more important to keep to one GP, although I have used one near the school when getting a treatment for a school injury, or when I can't get an appointment soon enough at the regular GP. The other GP is nearer home for the usual stuff. You can fill in a form to have your records transferred to another GP, if you find one you prefer.

Re: How to get a GP
 

Or, like us, you have 2 out of 3 kids, who have to see a peadiatrician reguarly, along with OT's and Physios etc......so yes to spend $30 each time I need a script for yet another ear/ chest infection is just tips it over the edge.... And Quoll the safety net seems a looong way off when you only earn a few K over the limit for getting a concession card. Last week I had a Drs visit, 3 lots of Anti b's to get, a new referal (as after 12 months the old one runs out, what a friggin rort!) and my sons monthly controlled prescription.....BEACAUSE of BB it only cost me $79...without it, I dread to think. Oh and then the monthly review with the pead costs $110 and I get $70 back from medicare....

The fact that for kids in the UK this would have all been free does gall and I dont see why all Drs dont just BB....$50 odd bucks for 5 mins isnt such a bad return surely?

To the OP, hope you feel better soon :)

Re: How to get a GP
 

Shame you can't find a good GP who bulks bills kids. :( There's lots around here. Btw, surely a private paed wouldn't be free in the uk?

Re: How to get a GP
 

I have :) (I was pointing out that IF I didnt the cost would be astronomic!)Hes fantastic :thumbsup: No, i would imagine a private paed wouldnt be free, but this paed (who is excellent) isnt private either...she was seeing my older son (aspergers) and when my younger son was transfered (as a premie) from city hospital to local she was on duty that day, apparently you get the one doing the hospital rounds that day. It was great news for me :thumbsup:

Re: How to get a GP
 

Almost 80% of gp visits are free Australia wide so most should be able to find a free child gp if financially necessary.

:confused: If they are treating your child as a public hospital outpatient why does it cost anything? It should be free - just like the nhs.

Re: How to get a GP
 

I have no idea.....maybe its because you go to their rooms?.... When my hubby was out of work and we had a blue concession card, it was free then, but now we pay....even though my son has a HCC? Seems crazy to me? That said any surgical referals from the paed are free...tonsils adenoids, ear ops....

But its SO confusing. Hubby sees his neuro surgeon once a year. He was on call (I think they all must do some pro bono work??) the night hubby was taken ill and he was rushed in to do the emergency op. This guy is a very succesful private surgeon....but because he operated on my hubby as an emergency public patient ( a few times) hubby is now his patient forever, but because he went in as public, he never pays, not even for th anual MRI. There was another guy who had an anyerysm (sp) at the same time and used his private insurance, we bumped into and he goes to The Neuros rooms for his check up each year and of course pays....The system is so glitchy its ridiculous! Its enough to mke me need neuro surgery!

Re: How to get a GP
 

I have, as I said, but the script costs were $79....non PBS ear drops, 2 lots of anti B's and a monthly controlled prescription. My whole point was that someone said that surely $30 out of pocket to see the GP isnt that bad? Maybe that is true if your kids are normal :eek: Or if you are not allergic to everything that moves...and find more things each month yadda yadda...

My gripe is that medicare pay what? $50 per visit? I just dont see why that isnt enough for a GP for a 5 to 10 min visit...why do they need to charge more? I just dont get it....

Re: How to get a GP
 

This is how I understand it - any corrections from the experts welcome:

If you go to a public hospital to see a specialist as a public outpatient it is free - same as nhs.

If you go to a private hospital or see a specialist in their private practice - which can be situated anywhere including on the grounds of a public hospital -you pay.

Even if you do go private the Medicare system gives you some money back.

Because medicare gives you money back even when you see a private specialist many assume this is the public system. It's not. If you want to see a public specialist you ask your gp for a referral to a public specialist at a public hospital.

Simple huh ;)