As a medical doctor I advocate that all families have a regular GP. Not all doctors are the same though and the following are some questions that families should ask to assist them to choose a good family GP:
(1) How long does the doctor spend with patients? Appointments less than 15 minutes are not ideal.
(2) Does the doctor prioritise preventive health and not just the problem that has brought patients to the doctor E.g. Do women receive a reminder when their pap smear is due? Does the doctor ask about immunisations?
(3) Does the doctor focus on the family’s ongoing health problems and not just the problem that has brought them in on a particular day? E.g. do they recommend regular check ups for family members with asthma or high blood pressure?
An appointment with your regular doctor may not always be possible however. There are particular times when this is more likely to be an issue: after hours and on public holidays, on weekends and when families are traveling.
Young children frequently become unwell and we factor possible illness into all of our travel plans. The difficulty for traveling families is that if/when illness occurs away from home parents don’t know where to take their children for care. All too often such situations lead to parents taking their child to the nearest hospital emergency department. This is not good for our hospital system, as most illnesses are best dealt with in primary care, and no good for families as it usually means hours spent in a hospital waiting room.
I have just become aware of an online booking service that makes medical and dental appointments for families. By registering for free with 1stAvailable.com.au families have access, through the web or mobile App to an appointment booking service for doctors, dentist and other health care providers around Australia. For traveling families this means, that when illness strikes, rather than struggling to find health care in an unfamiliar environment, or taking a trip to the local emergency department, they will be booked an appointment at a local primary care service. Registering with First Available, or an alternative primary care booking service prior to travel seems like a sensible addition to family trip planning. As an added bonus families that do sign up go in the draw to have their private health insurance paid for a year.
Disclaimer: I have no professional relationship with 1stAvailable.com.au . They have a competition for bloggers, which by writing this I am entered in. This is not why I wrote the post however. As a GP and public health physician I am passionate about improving access to primary care. Evens as a doctor myself, I have struggled to get an appointment for my own son with another doctor when we were traveling.
