"Lack of GP Support"

Whilst recently away interstate my spouse became unwell requiring emergency care. The result of this was the need to see a specialist with potential surgery on the cards so a referral was required, noting all required testing had been completed already (blood tests, ultrasound and physical examination).

I decided that the best option would be to use the telehealth service at the Swan Hill Medical Clinic as we were still interstate but needed to act as quickly as possible. My thought process being that the Swan Hill GPs were best placed to recommend a specialist close to home and further to this it would keep our medical records local where we need them.

I called and booked an appointment with a 1 week wait to see a doctor via telehealth.

The week passed with my spouse still in pain daily, we were pleased when the day of the appointment rolled around.

The appointment time came, only to be phoned by the reception team rather then the GP advising that the GP was not eligible for telehealth as they had not been in the clinic in the last 12 months.

My first piece of frustration was that if this was a genuine policy of the practice why are your reception staff not trained appropriately to not book a telehealth appointment with a patient that does not qualify. This could have saved us a week in time (and suffering) to book elsewhere or explore other options.

My frustration only built when that wasn't the end of the conversation. The receptionist then stated that we could in fact book with other GPs of the same practice that would in fact see us. So the practice does allow telehealth even without being in clinic recently?

How can you have a GP (or possibly more) refusing to see patients when this is in fact not clinic policy?

How are your staff supposed to understand practice policies to enable them to provide the best care to our community when they either don't exist or all GPs do not respect them.

I have made the choice to go elsewhere after being so disappointed and let down by the Swan Hill Medical Group.

If only you made it easy to go elsewhere however! In preparation for this appointment I made multiple phone calls to hospitals and pathology clinics to get all of the recent reports sent to your clinic in preparation for this appointment. When i called to request these documents be sent back to me so that i could go to an alternative clinic I was refused access to them. I was advised that the GP whom refused to review them, who refused to see us would have to give permission to send these documents to me. The documents I organised to be on your system. The documents that were not requested by your clinic, that had nothing to do with you at all.

I feel you have completely taken away our rights to our own information, you have given the power to a GP that did not have patient care at the forefront when refusing to see us.

Our Emergency Department is under constant strain and I believe blocking patients from available GP appointments is only adding extra unnecessary pressure to this situation.