Brisbane is being warned that a severe flu season is on the way and when the chilly winter temperatures arrive, we need to be ready.
This year, after-hours in-home house call doctor services are at the ready to answer calls from those who fall ill at night or over the weekend to be treated in their own home. Craig Glover, Chief Operating Officer of House Call Doctor states that they have made more than 600,000 house calls since it started in April 2015 and now has doctors available in every major regional centre in Queensland who are able to see people in the comfort of their homes, if their regular doctor surgery is closed.
Mr. Glover said House Call Doctor was Queensland’s largest after-hours healthcare provider. “We treat people for a range of illnesses and symptoms: everything from headaches through to tonsillitis, stomach pain, nausea, minor injuries and, of course, the flu,” he said. “In some cases, we have had doctors diagnose conditions that have resulted in lives being saved. I recall two cases very clearly: the first, when one of our doctors diagnosed a child with appendicitis and another, when our doctor identified that a patient was experiencing blood clots.”
The after hours house call doctor services put an end to the dilemma families previously faced: whether they should attend hospital for treatment or wait out their illness until a clinic opened. That also means hospital emergency departments are kept free from patients seeking treatment for non-life-threatening conditions. House call doctor services are 100 per cent bulk billed in house service for all patients who have a Medicare or Department of Veterans Affairs card.
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