Should physios be able to refer to surgeons?

[injuryupdate]

Watching 7.30 report tonight (b4 the state of origin) and Nicola Roxon was interviewed. She mentioned one of the problems with the medical system in Australia was that expert sports physio who have a patient that needs to see an orthopaedic surgeon must refer back to GP to get a referral to orthopaedic surgeon. She said this should be addressed so that physio can refer directly to surgeon. Kerry O'Brien asked her whether this meant that physios could soon claim Medicare rebate directly for seeing the patient but she brushed this off and said "in 5 or 10 or 20 years time this might be what our health system is like and we should debate it", so ruling it out for near future but in principle thinking it is not bad. She also gave example that in urology that medicare will pay for surgery but not for physio when it may be just as effective. Direct analogies can be taken with many areas in sports medicine - physio not funded by Medicare but less effective surgery funded.

[Rooster]

Greetings Administrator,

Unfortunately, I missed the 7.30 report.

This post caught my attention, I would like to reply and explain my situation.

I went to my physio for treatment on my ankle. He made a phone call to a sports physician and I attended an appointment that day. It was confirmed that surgery was required a.s.a.p. After that appt. the sports physician made an appt. for me with the OS and surgery was scheduled. Obviously, I choose to keep who and where confidential. Both of these professionals are highly qualified and I am extremely happy with how it was handled. It was a smooth process and I was greatful that I wasnt caused any further grief, I have not required surgery for a sports injury before. I provided my details of my GP so my records remain updated. I thought that was the way it all goes down.
Is the order: physio, GP, Sports Phys, OS, surgery?

[jtk73]

There are some physios who are not really qualified to refer straight to OS, so going to a sports physician is probably the way to go. In the many, many, many physios I have attended, only one would be good enough to really be seen as 'being on the ball' 90-100% of the time and 'worthy' of being able to refer to OS.

Not all doctors are worthy of it either, but they ARE doctors (GPs).

[Rooster]

Good morning jtk73

Thank you for your reply, you know what your on about. I have only ever attended one physio, and that was only to have acupunture and deep massage into muscles that had been loaded up through weight training. My Physio was an athlete himself. He obviously has his connections because he was able to get me a same day appointment and I know you just cant get a same day appointment for anything these days! You need to know at least 2 weeks in advance if you need to see anybody! The truth is, when surgery was scheduled for me, by someone I had no relationship with I was a little nervous. I have only ever seen my GP and he has always referred my to 'his' people and I have always felt in good hands. In saying that, I did some research myself and I was very comfortable that I was going to have surgery with a highly qualified Sports OS. I have heard so many stories of people with injuries that are not receiving care like they have a right to. Thats terrible.

[eelgirl]

My physio diagnosed my problem (ACL tear) first and sent me to a sports physician who thought I only had a minor medial sprain... So I believe that he would be smart enough to refer straight to OS, however, I have met plenty who aren't.

[anges_82]

at the physio I go to, they often refer their pt's to OS. they are more than qualified to do it. They usually just tell the pt to get their GP to write a letter to a specific OS. If they dont wish to do it that way, then they can ask their GP's recommendation but in most cases the GP just agrees with the physio.

If it is an emergency, they usually can see them within a day or two. It helps that they work in the same building as very reknowned OS's.