Cental Goldfields - Grampians Medicare Local

calls. Maryborough has had a history of underutilising the WAHS service. A recent review compared
Maryborough usage with other towns of similar size in the WAHS service region:
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Nominated GP Clinic Calls Jan-Mar 2012
MARYBOROUGH
STAWELL
ARARAT
Jan Feb Mar
This identifies a significantly lower than expected use of WAHS in Maryborough compared with other
similar towns. MDHS UCC is currently trialling diverting calls received to WAHS, and on one night 4 out of
the 6 diverted calls were able to be managed by WAHS, without the need for face to face assessment.
MDHS is also exploring an IVR answering machine that will direct callers to WAHS in the first instance,
rather than being answered by UCC staff.
Community Views - After Hours Health Care
There were 39 respondents to our consumer survey who live in the Central Goldfields – Maryborough
region (10). Most had a mobile or landline and all but one had internet access. No respondents were
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander nor spoke a language other than English at home.
Twenty nine of the respondents used the Internet to find out about health care options after hours. The
most common method used to find healthcare information was Google, or other internet search engine
(93.5%). Only one user had accessed the National Health Service Directory (NHSD).
More people knew the operating hours of their local pharmacy than their local General Practice (86.8% vs
76.3%).
Thirty respondents reported having more than one occasion where they were concerned for the health of
themselves or a loved one in the after hours period.
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