Emergency dial-a-diagnosis starts in Sydney
People phoning Sydney’s hospital emergency departments will now have their inquiries automatically diverted to a call centre, staffed by registered nurses, who will assess their symptoms over the phone.
The nurses will advise whether callers should go to the hospital, seek an appointment with their GP, or take some other action.
Health Minister, Reba Meagher, has announced the plan as part of a nationwide re-vamp of emergency department utilisation.
The diversion of calls is the first stage of NSW’s link to healthdirect, the new national health call centre network.
It does not replace the existing triple-0 number for medical emergencies, but the call centre nurses can alert ambulances if necessary.
The healthdirect phone service will be rolled out across the state from October.
The number will be publicised and promoted, so people can phone the centre directly.
When fully operational, the call centre will provide people with localised health information and advice to assist them to make an appropriate, informed decision about where they should go for treatment.
Latest Health Department statistics show 163,705 people attended the state’s emergency departments last month, with only 60% needing urgent treatment.
Last year, 2.3 million people went to an emergency department in NSW – an 8% increase on the previous year.
Of those who attended emergency departments, 44% had conditions that could be treated by a GP; that figure has been increasing by 6% each year.
