The cross-border healthcare system between the ACT and NSW is under scrutiny after a Googong resident claimed they were denied treatment in Canberra due to their place of residence.
The resident posted to a Facebook group last week to say her husband had been denied a transfer to the University of Canberra Hospital in Bruce, and was inundated with responses.
Located in New South Wales, Googong is just a short drive from Canberra, which is the nearest major city for residents.
“[My] husband had major spine surgery for a tumour and needs to move to a rehab hospital,” she said in the post.
“We’re trying to go to Bruce, but they won’t accept the transfer. The next closest hospital is Goulburn which is not feasible for us.
“Looking for similar stories, and what you’ve said/done to stay in Canberra.”
Speaking to ABC Radio Canberra, ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said she could not speak to the circumstances of individual patients due to confidentiality.
But she said her office had investigated the circumstances which recently led to a NSW patient being turned away from a hospital.
Rachel Stephen-Smith says Googong and Queanbeyan residents are able to access healthcare in the ACT. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Ms Stephen-Smith said she believed miscommunication had likely played a role and that patients should not be turned away if they lived in places such as Googong, which is part of the Canberra health system catchment area.
The minister also said that sometimes NSW patients were redirected not because of their location but because the health service had determined they would be better treated at a different facility more suited to their medical needs.
‘Not much you can do about it’
Multiple other people responded to the Googong resident’s post to say they had endured similar experiences.
“I was on the public list to get a knee [operation] for about 18 months, then received a letter telling me I was taken off the list as I am a NSW resident,” one person commented, adding he hoped to have surgery in the coming months in Bowral.
“Had to start the process all over again,”
he said.
Some replied to say they had been frustrated by trying to navigate the system as NSW residents living close to Canberra, and believed the system prioritised ACT residents, bumping those over the border down the waiting list if necessary.
According to the health minister, about 25 per cent of patients in the ACT system are from NSW. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“The same happened to me, ended up having to go [to] Goulburn for specialists and hospital,” one person replied.
“Not much you can do about it.”
“If an ACT resident is in need we get triaged and asked to go and use our ‘own state public health funded hospital’,” another commented.
NSW MP seeking answers
After learning of the issue, Monaro MP Steve Whan said he had confirmed with Ms Stephen-Smith that people from Queanbeyan and Googong were within the catchment area for University of Canberra Hospital in Bruce and other ACT facilities.
“I guess the issue that we have to sort through is why someone might have been told something different … by staff there and whether or not that was just a sort of an anecdotal thing or something formal,” he told the ABC.
“But certainly, there been has been some work to clarify the communication, to understand what went wrong.”
Monaro MP Steve Whan says he has has been in touch with Ms Stephen-Smith about the issue. (ABC South East NSW: Floss Adams)
Mr Whan said capacity was an issue in hospitals in both jurisdictions, something he said he was trying to improve.
“I’m talking to the Local Health District about how we deal with that in the long term and obviously trying to encourage more construction of more aged care beds around our area to take that up,” he said.
He said while NSW residents often needed to access care in Canberra, ACT residents also travelled to NSW for treatment.
“We actually account for those transfers of patients between our hospitals and funding follows that,”
Mr Whan said.
“So for instance, [the] NSW government, I think the net amount we paid to the ACT in the last year or so is somewhere [between] $80 to $90 million for the services that are being provided to NSW patients across the border.”
NSW patients should not be turned away: minister
Ms Stephen-Smith confirmed ACT health services staff had been in touch with a patient after they said they had been turned away.
“My office followed that up and we do understand what the circumstances of that individual were and senior health officials went and had a conversation and have clarified what the circumstances are in relation to that individual,” Ms Stephen-Smith told ABC Radio Canberra.
“Queanbeyan and Googong are part of the catchment area for University of Canberra Hospital for those people who need that service.
“Overall, NSW patients make up about 25 per cent of our patient load and we are required to treat NSW patients under Medicare and National Health Reform Agreement rules.“
The minister said the preference was for patients to receive healthcare as close to home as possible.
“And sometimes there’s some conversation about what the most appropriate care pathway is for individuals and it may not be the thing that they think they should be accessing,” she said.
Rachel Stephen-Smith says it was a misunderstanding that likely led a NSW resident to believe they were being denied healthcare in the ACT. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
She said sometimes the system could be confusing for patients, who might mistakenly conclude that the issue was their place of residence.
“Mostly people are referred into our services by a doctor, by a GP or a specialist and if that’s occurring from NSW, the engagement will generally be with the referring GP or specialist to say, ‘actually this is not the right referral pathway for this patient’,” she said.
“Or what quite often happens … is people think they’ve been turned away because they’re a NSW patient whereas in fact the same response would be given if they were a patient in the ACT and that does sometimes lead to a bit of confusion.”
But Ms Stephen-Smith said there were some exceptions.
“So some of our services that are purely funded by the ACT government are for ACT residents, and the free abortion service, for example, is one of those,”
she said.
“But other services, as I say, if they’re funded under Medicare rules, if they’re funded under the National Health Reform Agreement, they’re absolutely available to NSW patients.”
