13 HEALTH HOTLINE HELPS OVER 125,000 QUEENSLANDERS

Published Friday, 22 December, 2006 at 12:00 AM

Minister for Health
The Honourable Stephen Robertson

More than 125,000 Queenslanders have benefited from fast, reliable clinical advice through the State Government’s 13 HEALTH hotline, Premier Peter Beattie said today.

13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) provides clinically-based triage advice and health service information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the cost of a local call,” he said.

“And it’s proving a runaway success with Queenslanders.

“Since February, 13 Health has taken 125,293 calls -- including 108,239 calls since the service became available statewide on 24 April 2006.

“That’s over 500 calls a day.

“Calls are being answered on average within 11 seconds and nurses are spending approximately 11 minutes dealing with each call.”

Mr Beattie said 13 HEALTH may be a family’s best friend this festive season.

“Many suburban GPs take leave over the Christmas-New Year period; placing extra demands on our busy public hospital emergency departments.

13 HEALTH is designed to provide callers with quick, reliable advice if they or a family member suddenly get sick and they are unsure what to do.

“Instead of rushing off in the middle of the night with a child to an emergency department and having to wait for advice on something that turns out to be no more than a tummy ache, help is at the end of a phone line.

“Calling 13 HEALTH instead of a hospital emergency department also means our busy doctors and nurses can focus totally on treating patients.

“We’ve got 51 experienced registered nurses staffing the hotline ready to give you expert advice about who to talk to – and how quickly you should do it.”

Mr Beattie stressed the 13 HEALTH service is for non-life threatening situations only and not meant to replace medical consultations.

“People with life-threatening emergencies should always call Triple O for urgent assistance from the Queensland Ambulance Service,” he said.

A breakdown of triage calls for the period 1-30 November 2006 include:

·18% of calls were advised to attend a hospital emergency department.

·7% of calls were transferred to the Queensland Ambulance Service.

·14.6% of calls were advised to see their GP in 1-4 hours.

·13.5% were advised to see their GP within 12 hours.

· 8.6% of calls were advised to see a GP within 1-3 days.

· 3% of calls were provided with self-management advice.

The other 35% of calls were either seeking health service information; were transferred to poisons information or community crisis lines; or advised to contact an obstetrician/gynaecologist or dentist for an appointment.

The ten most common symptoms callers experienced when calling 13 HEALTH during November:

Symptom

Frequency

1.Fever – Toddler

488

2.Abdominal Pain – Adult

457

3.Vomiting – Toddler

267

4.Bites – Insect

257

5.Vomiting – Adult

236

6.Fever – Infant

223

7.Chest Pain

212

8.Ingestion – Toxic Substance

209

9.Rash – Toddler

209

10.Fever – Child

181

Paul Lynch 3234 1190