Hey everyone,
Not long to go now! I am on my rural placement, with the majority of my time spent in musculo outpatients. After my first week I am so suprised at the number of patients who do not turn up to appointments. I think part of the problem is that due to the 3 month waiting period to see a physio publicly, patients either see a private physio or their problem naturally resolves in this time. However, I still find it a bit rude that patients don't phone in to say they wont be attending a session.
On Thursday I was supposed to see 6 new patients and only 2 turned up- so the majority of my day was spent sitting around wasting time. Although public health is obviously very important in making sure people from all socioeconomic demographics receive care, I think it may also be beneficial to apply some small, nominal fee so that the service is not taken for granted or at least respected a bit more. Do you think this would be effective or just discriminate against those people who cannot afford the small fee but would really benefit and appreciate health care?
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I'm having the same issue at the moment. I'm also at outpatient in rural placement. Usually about 80% patients comes for appointments as there are almost no waitinglist. However on my days visiting a community health centre, I had 4 patient booked and 3 didn't turn up, I was had to sit around waiting for time to pass. For the visiting physio and me, using a government vehicle driving over 1 hour one way to the community. Seeing just a couple patients are very costly. The physio revealed to me that the first a couple month he was there he had little to no patient. So it is definitely a problem. Charging a small fee would be good in my opinion too. however as I heard from my supervisor it may be against the policy that providing free health service to rural communities
I totally agree Alicia. I think someone was talking about this topic in the series of management lectures at the beginning of the year. Even if the fee was only for not showing up without at least 48 hours prior notice. That way people who can’t afford physio would still have the free service, should they choose to abide by the rules. Also, it may depend on the situation as to why people didn’t come to appointments but perhaps a follow up phone call a day or two before the appointment could solve some hassles. This way if people decide they no longer need physio, it can be organised for someone on the waitlist to take their spot.
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