LauraC

Were do you go to get smear tests done in Aus? Is it done through the doctors surgery or is there another place to go, I know you can get them done at GUM clinics in the UK, I wondered if there was something similar in Aus.

Wendy

The nurse will do them at the doctors surgery. Not sure about clinics any though, someone else may know that.

LauraC

Thanks Wendy.

How often do they recommend smears be done in Aus?

Wendy

Every two years seems to be the norm here.

why

http://www.shinesa.org.au/

there are womens health services in all states in australia link above is south australia

there are clinics that run from community health centres for all womens health issues...
you can go to a GP
if you have private health insurance you can go to a gynecologist
if you are under 26 you will be eligible for a free course of the new immunisation against cervical cancer

moneypenny20

I was told by my doctor that the nurses are not allowed to do them here (may be a QLD thing). The docs do them. I am lucky, I have the choice of a lovely English lady and a male obstetrician. The lady was off on maternity leave so the guy did it and very good he was as well, Every two years.

LauraC

Bugger! I'll be 26 when I get to Aus so I'll be a month or 2 too old to get the free vaccine! Although saying that doesn't it only protect again 4 forms of HPV?

How come you can only go to a gynecologist if you have private healthcare?

Thanks for the info!

LauraC

How odd! I wonder why that is? Aren't nurses taught how to do them or is it to insure it's done well enough for a reading?

chris and farideh

I got my GP to send me to see Gynecologist at the local hospital, I'm not on private health cover for hospital, but the service was excellent.

moneypenny20

No idea. My doc (the english one) just raised her eyebrows and said something along the lines of "that's Australia for you!" They have lots of stuff like that. Paramedics aren't allowed to do loads of stuff they do in the UK.

LauraC

Oh well, that's the way it is. Still odd though!

Are the paramedics restricted in the drugs/IV lines they can give like the Ambulace Technicians are here? That would be really sucky if you were a Paramedic here and went to Aus and found you couldn't do some of the stuff you were trained to do.

Would it be a good idea to have smear done before I come over and bring the results with me?

why

don't get me onto the subject of what nurses and midwives and health visitors aren't allowed to do in australia....
(i am one!!) so much to say that australia is stuck in "19th century land" when it comes to the "male medical model" of health service provision....
gynecologist make there money via the private system... they make twice as much money for doing things like cervical screening...
for those in uk the nhs may be crap but it is fair and really is the best health care system in the world (may be better in Scandinavian countries)
and really don't get me onto private health in australia (it is very unfair and very complicated) health care is adequate and can be excellent in aus but not fair....

LauraC

I've heard that pregnany/birth care is a bit like the American way of doing it, mainly OBs not midwives. Is that true?

What do you mean 'male medical model'? Is that because of the old thinking that women have no clue how their bodies work?

why

midwifery in UK had two origins a) granny midwives who were any woman that was interested or knew about midwifery (two million were burned at the stake throughout Europe during history thanks to religious men) most were very honorable women who were paid in kindness... things like free eggs for two years....it was a bit of a family apprenticeship and you learned the trade from the women in your family.....when Florence Knightingale came along... and other social reformers..they wanted to do good....in 1903 the first "training" started for midwives in UK (wonder who delivered all the babies before that!!!!!) according to the bible midwives were honored by god (don't see much of that now or in history!!!) in the past medical men weren't very interested in women and childbirth until the 1700's then men and religion took over...it was always "womens business"
midwives have been portrayed as drunken old tarts in the Victorian era and i am sure there was some "not so good" stuff happening....but somehow in the new world countries history wasn't the same...in australia and canada there were very few doctors or nurse/midwives and there was a really poor history of problems in childbirth... so doctors took over and that is how it is now.....(don't know how the indigenous peoples manages to survive!!!)
my big thought was....... since men have been involved with childbirth.. the population of the planet has gone mad....and women seem to become more and more devalued... and abused (perhaps we know more about it now).....don't know what anyone else thinks?....

moneypenny20

If you have a nurse who you are comfortable with and they will do it for you even if you are not due one (my practice wouldn't do mine because it was something like 2 months short of when I "should" have had it done) then do it before you come. If you're not bothered who has a rummage (and let's face it, once we have kids, most of the medical profession have had a ganders anyway) and if you're not due to have one yet, then leave it.

Paramedics over here are not allowed to do many many things they do as a matter of course in the UK. They are almost treated as taxi drivers with extra skills. A very good friend of mine has been here a few months now and is soooo frustrated with what she is not allowed to do. It's not a sex thing either, I can only assume that it's an insurance/liability thing but could be way off beam.