My experience has been mixed. But I find the public hospital (albeit longer wait times) have more access to knowledge and equipment than a private hospital.
Curious to hear peoples experience of going to a public hospital or paying to go to a private hospital when it comes to an emergency. Especially given the perception of paying means better care…
Another thing to note is consultants in private hospitals tend to have been around for a while and are older. They may have more experience but they may also be very set in their own ways and not aware of the latest developments that could improve their technique.
Those that shuffle between public and private are the best as they will see a wide range of conditions to learn to treat.
It depends on what type of emergency. If it's very urgent, like once you get to the hospital, the nurses will put you at the front of the queue, no questions asked. I would go with private.
However, if the emergency is not as urgent, like deep cuts etc. I would go to private, just because I won't need to wait for hours.
there also some gp clinics that can do that
for emergency public, for specialist, private.
Will a Private Hospital attend an emergency ??
Do they have Emergency Rooms at all??
Innocently asking.
Yes they do.
I know of 3 near me.
Some do. But most of the time they don't have the right surgeons/ emergency doctors/ed nurses on hand because they don't want to pay them hundreds of dollars an hour to sit around doing nothing.
So if you go there and there isn't the right staff, you'll be shipped to the nearest public hospital.. where there's always emergency staff.
Depends on the luck of the draw in the public system. I know when I worked at a major hospital here in Brisbane (not on the clinical area) -. if you were involved in a major trauma (say car accident or pretty big fall and say had to have loads of surgery and titanium plates in a jaw for example), then you were better to go to that hospital than a private one.
I've worked in both sectors and have experienced major illness in the public sector and in my clinical experience it comes down to this:
1) in the private sector you know who will be doing your surgery. You talk to the specialist directly and they generally keep you in the loop, unless complications or emergency happens during surgery. In this sector, the surgeon can use whatever they want for the job. They get to choose which equipment and incidentals are in the theatre.
2) in the public sector your operation may not even have the specialist in the room. You cannot choose which surgeon you want. It is whoever you get allocated to or after hours who is on call. You generally talk to residents or registrars. Sometimes you see them just once a week or when decisions or consults are needed. However you may not be aware of what is actually happening. Some don't talk to you directly and some do. In the theatre, what they can use depends on what contracts the hospital has. Comsumables and equipment are limited to which supplier the hospital deals with.
Surgeon preferences are not considered.
When I was quite ill in 2018, I was lucky to have a consultant who did come to see me every day and I spoke at length with her about various things along the way. When I had emergency surgery.in 2019, I saw and spoke with the surgeon just after admission. He definitely did the surgery as it was complicated. Once the acute stage was over, I didn't see him again.
Go public. I have had terrible experiences going to the emergency room of a private hospital. not only is it a significantly inferior treatment with a longer wait time, they also charge you a shit load. Never ever again.
Yep. Because private hospitals are a business.
Health should not be a money making scheme.
They are indeed. Ive been with a member of my family to private emergency and it was basically a 24 hour glorified GP clinic…. the guy that saw us was a relatively aged GP. The bill even came from his own GP company. Then we got charged for a bunch of stuff (tests etc) but within the hour were admitted, paid the hospital excess, and all that would have then been included if done AFTER admission, but it wasn't because its a business … even tho results came way after admission and was in the same building…
Also had good experiences when you just dont want to wait at main public for something when you wont be triaged high priority… its less busy, more low key, and if youre hurting and trying to avoid covid crowds, that can be good too if you just need fairly basic medical aid after hours
Having worked in both. Public has the best nurse, doctors, resources, procedures and care.
We are a lucky country.
Indeed.
We all know the US system is a sad joke, recent news of a 460 bed hospital closing because it isn't financially viable highlights how far a private hospital system can fail
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/politics-issues/2022-09-18/imp…
Depends on time/ person/ hospital and incident from my experience. I’ve been to rmh emergency and had the worst experience. I heard from parents with young kids that rch is good for emergencies.
As one of my friends who worked in private hospitals, he described it as a glorified hotel with healthcare on the side.
Public for Emergency every time. Private for scheduled procedures in a prompt manner every time.
For overseas visitors, in general private emergency charges less fees compare with public and minimal wait time in private.
Loosely related story, once I was performing some working at a private hospital (contracted IT work), hospital management told our staff, if a workplace injury occurs and that staff member didn't have private health insurance, we must leave site and go to a public hospital :(
That may be because said private hospital did not have an emergency department? If that was the case then yes, you are better off seeking help at a public hospital with an appropriately equipped and staffed emergency department
But they said PHI was a condition
It was "Greenslopes Private Hospital" :)
If it's a real emergency you'll be seen immediately in either so public for me and I've been plenty of times…
Public. I have heard a couple of horror stories from a friend who worked in a private hospital - the worst being a woman taking their 13 year old kid into a private hospital when they were incredibly ill (I can't recall what the issue was specifically). The private hospital did not have the resources to properly deal with kid and they sadly passed away. If they were taken to the public hospital with a real emergency department they would have very likely survived.
Not 100% related but I have also heard stories of private hospitals 'guiding' patients into having c-sections instead of giving birth as it allows them to have a nice clean roster for the obstertrician instead of having to deal with the unpredictable nature and timing of delivering a baby 'normally'. Also, if the proverbial hits the fan during a birth often the public hospital is going to have the resources to deal with any issues where private hospitals might not (for eg having an anethaetists on 24/7 in a maternity ward)
It has to be the public hospital by simple virtue of the fact that that's where the emergency department is, though places like Norwest and the San do have EDs as well.
Private hospitals are generally best utilised for elective surgery and psychiatry, rehab, drug and alcohol for otherwise well patients
If you're a 50 year old otherwise well athlete that needs a knee done, by all means go private to cut the wait time if you have private health insurance.
If your hospital admission is medical or you have a complex medical history the public teaching hospital is where you want to be.
Regional Victoria no choice available public hospital and the closest private about 4 public hospitals away is not set up for emergencies anyway. I want to get to the closest hospital available.
Public and private hospitals share a no statistically significant difference in mortality rates (if they did, I'm sure we'd hear about it).
Further, private hospitals actually undertake more procedures per issue treated (e.g. extra bloodwork, scans) so you could conclude they're less efficient.
That said, they're not less efficient, they just have a different aim - they just get paid a by the insurer and by Medicare for each procedure ordered.
As a doctor, I would go public. The same senior doctors are usually working in both private and public hospitals, but there is always a junior doctor (of varying experience) covering a ward with the supervision of more senior doctors - if you had an emergency on the ward of a private hospital, you are less likely to get the correct treatment swiftly. I also find the nurses in the public sector are better trained.
That said, for any young and robust patient waiting for a simple operation (e.g. a bone fix), I would recommend private.
So a bone fix is not emergency?
Sorry, worded poorly. If I had private cover and broke a bone, i would present myself to my nearest private emergency department - unless there were obvious serious complications associated with the fracture.
I've only done public (twice). Both times, I was given VIP treatment! Even though there was a full waiting room, I was able to skip it and got rushed straight in!
Private, don't want no ozbargains person near me.
I'm pretty sure the rule of thumb is private is better for minor things.
But when the shit hits the fan and you need some serious work done you need to go public just because all the equipment is in there.
I’ve experienced both private and public.
Even if you have private health insurance you have to pay to be seen in the case of any emergency at a private hospital. Private only good for elective surgeries. Here is some examples:
Family member recently had eye issue which was emergency - was told specifically by GP that he had to go public as private didn’t have anyone experienced in that field available to investigate the issue.
Another time heart issues - went to private. Ended up being referred to a private specialist and being a couple of hundred bucks out of pocket with the time spent in emergency. However we got a referral to a private specialist.
More recently family member rushed to private hospital as very unwell within the space of a few hours. Was discharged and fainted outside of the hospital in front of ambulance. Ambo took her straight to public hospital nearby and diagnosed with cancer.
After these experiences… I’d just go to public as they have experienced specialists available.
Gosh I hope the person who fainted outside the private ED didn’t have to pay.
Last I checked there’s no such thing as ‘emergency’ in most private hospitals. Private hospitals just aren’t equipped to provide critical urgent care and will send you to the public hospital, where the more obviously urgent your need, the better the care. For anything not actually an emergency it depends on the issue.
You’re in for a bad time regardless of your choice if you have something relatively urgent but not an emergency.
The private system is setup to take people that would have to wait 2 years for elective procedures in the public and make $$$ by seeing them in days to weeks instead. Outside the US there’s no money in emergency care because people can’t really provide financial consent under duress (and the public system is very good), so private hospitals don’t have the equipment or specialists to provide it.
Depends on what. Im in SE Qld. If you have any sort of trauma injury aside from a simple fracture or dislocation. Probably best to go private. I had a smashed ankle one time and public was a quite a runaround and ended up getting nowhere and having to go private for surgery anyway. Going public just added 6 weeks of diagnosis runaround before finally working out I needed surgery then it was a 6 month wait. So I ended up going private. Should have gone private straight away.
I think for any major stuff that may require major surgery I think Public is the way to go. I had a bowel obstruction from scar tissue build up about a year ago and public worked out just fine. Actually better I think because they transferred me to a hospital they had that had the specialised surgeons and a ward for that. I came in, they diagnosed, stablised and they had the plan together for surgery next morning. Then they asked me If I wanted to transfer to private, I was like no way, Im not switching a treatment plan here for no plan there and starting all over again.
Be sure that if asked, you can elect to be private patient, public hopsital. That way the state can recover money from your health insurer. That way the insurers aren't getting a free ride.
There is no such thing as a private Emergency Department in Australia. They don't exist.
Everyone goes to the same Public ED in an emergency.
AFAIK by definition emergency hospital care is free - as long as you are near a hospital with emergency services
when my appendix acted up, my doctor told me to go straight to emergency - I did
while waiting I asked about the choice of doctors, and was told the same doctors did both public and private
so no benefit to me to seek private - they put me in a bed in the nice newer private hospital part for two days for operation and recovery time
if I had wanted/needed/asked for a single room that would have been an extra/private cost, but I don't need that - think it was 6 beds in a large room with curtain dividers so felt private enough to me - actually watching other bed activity was useful to relieve the boredom of all day in bed
on departing the discharge counter asked if I wanted to be public or private - I said public and thank you very much - no charge.