consider yourself lucky.
you have no chance in a private hospital, even in one equipped with an actual emergency department. not many do. even fewer have an Intensive Care.
the thread discusses private health insurance and i find your posts add nothing as you have no first hand experience to substantiate any of your views to a system that is indispensible.
emergencies overflow because the patients know to see an ED doctor for a cough/UTI is free at 10pm and often they get a starter pack of antibiotics, for free. but to see a GP after 5pm they will most likely need to pay out of pocket $15-40 plus cost to fill a script. cat 4 or 5 patients. that is what overwhelms the ED.
but if you were triaged category 1 or 2 you will be seen within minutes.
i worked in a trauma centre ED where all night MVAs kept arriving plus the usual cardiac/respiratory sickies and by 5am none in the department had even had any food or water for 8-9 hours working straight. the triage nurse just went to the waiting room and told the people there waiting for free amoxyl to leave.
as to whether there are enough surgeons it is more complex than the college not training enough. there is a surplus in metro but a severe shortage in rural areas. many highly qualified (i am talking about 10+ years of training after medical school with overseas experience in some of the most challenging subspecialties) are struggling to find a public hospital post in metro melbourne for example. public waiting list is not a result of surgeon shortage. more to do with beds.
i am in the health profession and I have private insurance. but my baby was born in a public hospital. The treatment was nothing short of fantastic. obstructed labour and 45 min later baby delivered by C/S. but one day i might use my private health insurance.
in my opinion it is not a matter of definitely one or the other. we are lucky enough to have both systems in this country available to most people. base your decisions on your own financial situations. and then understand how both systems work and choose where you want to be treated.
Your view of Australian healthcare has clearly been distorted by working in the public health system. After working in a public institution for any period of time, you demonstrate all the negative stereotypical features of any public servant. You come to accept substandard outcomes as excellence. Ineptitude, incompetence, minimal productivity are all hallmarks of our public health system and many of our public organisations. The reason why there are long waiting lists in our public hospitals is not a lack of resources. Rather, it is substandard productivity assisted by a culture of always doing the minimal. The nursing culture is always one of watching the clock and making sure they get their teabreaks. This is typical of any unionised workforce.
The government finds it convenient to blame a lack of resources for public hospital scandals and disasters but in reality, far greater sums of money are spent on public health than the private sector. Yet, there is less output.
Despite the fact that only 40% of the population is insured, there is a far greater volume of elective surgery being performed in the private sector than the public sector. This is purely due to inefficiencies in the public system where it is very difficult to sack under performers or non-performers. With the private hospital, which are clearly profit making organisations, inefficient staff can be eased out far more easily. The culture is also different. In the private hospital, the patient is the customer and is treated as a valued person. In the public hospital, the patient is another drain on supposed scarce resources and must be treated as such.
The private health system is infinitely better for everything except for immediate emergencies such as trauma. You are comparing Ferrari with second hand bicycles. Private hospital intensive care units are better staffed and equipped than most public intensive care. In Australia, most private hospitals have an intensive care unit.
Many private hospitals reject patients with golden staph infections. In contrast, if you spend long enough time in a public hospital, you are guaranteed some form of infection. So unless you had no choice, I would stay well away from public hospitals. You will not see James Packer or Frank Lowy sitting in the waiting room of a public emergency department with the great unwashed.
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