hope my memory serves me well but i'm sure john howard cut funding to reduce doctor numbers back in his day when he and abbot were trying to curtail medicare.
why would a doctor want to work in country town when the can make much dollars in the big cities with all the trimmings and specialists can charge what they want.
Here in Albury, it is mostly pretty good in my opinion, could not fault care given to late brother in law at Cancer Centre during 2018, 2019. But I am sure there are plenty of very ordinary examples as well. Still much better than U S A, or republic of South Africa, or indeed in Dictator dan's state(of emergency again).
Craig 1 I'm assuming you are talking about the cost in the USA. Yes it's expensive. (Never go to the USA without insurance). I found myself in ER in the USA. Given a 40% chance of coming out. The care and knowledge I got was as good as anything I have seen here in Australia. Doctors and nurses aren't any different to any trade. Well almost any! There are good and bad in all trades. It's so easy to paint with a broad brush.
There will always be 'short comings'. Why should the McGrath charity pay for country nurses? And that's just the first example that pops into my head. And another one. The Flying Doctor should be a government service and not left up to other organizations. Way too easy to pick and choose examples of so called government failures. Any government of any persuasion.
My dad was in hospital for 3 months, I visited every second day & was there for hours.
Over hearing staff conversations, half the problem is that a lot of the staff are employed from hire agencies. They are employed to fill gaps & are often at different hospitals, different departments.
They are wasting so much time not working in one place long enough.
Also I noticed a shortage of "bandaids". Supplies were ordered Just In Time on an hourly basis. Mad & expensive!
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
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Mental health care is s..t in my area. I have a few problems, least of all the last one diagnosed last year was Aspergers Syndrome. No one has a clue, how to help you, ,no one cares, and because I speak differently, but come across as mostly normal, they expect me to be 100% normal. I cannot do this. Yet I get critisized when I stuff up in conversations, like I meant to be mean, or argumentive. It is the main reason why I shut my self away from people, and have done ever since I was young. The only persons whom understand me is my wife, daughter and my dog, Milo. So just saying bare with me a bit here as well. I don't mean to be mean, I cannot control it, it just happens.
-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Thursday 4th of February 2021 02:35:54 PM
Can never be equality of care unless of course you build and staff a full featured base hospital at every whistle-stop town or outstation. Can't understand the expectation.
Why not same whinge about pubs, banks, supermarkets, sporting facilities, aged care, schools, libraries, swimming pools, footpaths, phone service. Get real or move to the city
Due to the ever decreasing country hospitals facilities. Expectant mothers are have to leave country towns much earlier for a greater margin for their due date so they are close to a hospital.
Living away from home, away from partner, extra cost, just more burden pushed onto the end user!
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50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Griffith is hardly a whistle-stop town. Its a city. I think there is a history here and there's more to the storey other than bandages.
If you have ever lived in the country and had to go to a capital city for treatment of anything worse than a cold, you would understand the issues better.
I've lived in small country towns all my life but as I said, the demise of the medical service just parallels that of banking, transport, social security, library, everything.
In 2019 we were in Broken Hill for two days & were looking to buy a book for our neighbour's child, before we get back to Sydney. We asked around, not one book shop left in Broken Hill.
We did, just, manage to find a kids book in Cobar in a variety shop.
All these towns are dying one limb at a time. All that will be left will be an automated petrol pump & if you are lucky a small supermarket with no vegetables!
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
I've found in QLD that if you don't want to live in Brisbane or to travel there, the only two cities offering top medical care are Townsville & Toowoomba. Fortunately I live in one, visit the other a couple of times a year.
The last LNP Govt decided that costs had to be cut & so they went over the fence closing down mid & other services to other smaller hospitals, causing expectant mothers to travel to the bigger areas. Fine, but it adds to the stress of having a family, being away from family, friends & adds an unnecessary financial burden as well on the family.
Slowly those services are being reinstated but as Whenarewethere & others stated above towns that lose essential services, start to lose other needs too. So families move away, schools close down. I take my hat off to the Bendigo Bank with their Community Bank arrangement - restoring banking to smaller communities when the big boys have moved out.
Buying on the internet is another thing where local businesses are losing out, closing down e.g. book shops. Yes it might cost a few dollars more but the shop owner has to pay rent, power, superannuation, etc just to keep the shop open. Where there is a significant difference in the cost, yes I use the internet.
The doctor son (& his family) of friends has just moved to St George in SW QLD. He has an excellent reputation, the town loves him & they are enjoying living there. He's even taken up one hobby that his parents (& us) enjoy as the variety of bird species there is amazing.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
Gold Coast no longer a QLD city? Shame! Here on the GC there are dozens of hospitals, surgeries and specialists. Despite the premiers comments many folks in NSW come to the GC for treatment.
