HOSPITAL waiting rooms aren’t places you want to be on a good day – and it’s somewhere you don’t want to be waiting hours and hours to see a doctor during the holiday season.
Your local clinic is closed for the holidays but you need to see a doctor so you bundle the kids into the car and head to your closest emergency department. And you wait. And you wait.
There has to be a better way. And there is…
One video call on the My Emergency Dr app allows you to speak to a specialist emergency doctor who can assess your child and tell you whether a visit to the hospital is absolutely necessary.
They can even organise a prescription to be sent to your nearest open pharmacy to be picked up at your earliest convenience.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not.
My Emergency Dr has been running the service since 2016 and they’ve helped thousands of people across Australia.
Normally it’s a paid service, but eligible residents in the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network catchment area (Eastern and North Eastern Melbourne) using the service after hours can access it for free until May 2019.
My Emergency Dr CEO, Dr Justin Bowra said the app was developed by a group of Australian emergency department doctors as a way to improve access to emergency care and alleviate pressure on public hospital emergency departments.
“When your GP is available, we recommend that you talk to your GP as usual,” Dr Bowra said.
“But this service is there to help with those times when your GP is not available and you’re just not sure if you need to go to the emergency department.”
All doctors on the app are specialist emergency doctors. This means they are not junior doctors, they are not doctor-in-training, they are the doctors who run emergency departments and in fact they are among the most senior emergency doctors in Australia.
The summer holiday season is usually a quiet time for most businesses, but Dr Bowra says it can be among the busiest times in Emergency departments.
And the long wait times are a good excuse as any to stay away.
At this time of year Emergency Department waiting rooms are filled with unusual things such as injuries- even Dads with skate board injuries from their children’s presents,” he said.
“And that’s on top of the usual stuff that comes in, and also all the people who would like to go to their usual GP but can’t get an appointment.
“If in doubt use the My Emergency Dr smartphone app or simply call 1800 000 633 (1800 000 MED) – don’t go to your local emergency unless it is clearly something that needs immediate attention.”
My Emergency Dr looks after all age groups; whether babies and children with rashes or fevers, infections, gastroenteritis; or dads with skateboard injuries; or grandparents with medication issues. Please visit the website to see if your suburb qualifies for the free funded service under the Eastern Melbourne PHN initiative. Fees may apply for other users.. https://www.myemergencydr.com.au/
