How Home Doctors Coordinate with Your Regular GP in Australia for Continuity of Care

Key Takeaways

• Continuity of Care: After-hours home doctor visits support communication with your regular GP through shared clinical notes and follow-up recommendations.
• Secure Information Sharing: Clinical summaries from home visits are typically sent to your regular GP clinic using secure medical messaging systems.
• Follow-Up with Your GP: Your regular GP remains responsible for ongoing care, including reviewing medications, test results, and persistent symptoms.
• My Health Record Support: Digital health summaries, such as My Health Record, can help healthcare providers access relevant medical information when needed.
• Complementary Care Model: Home doctor services are designed to support primary care after hours, not replace your usual GP.

Connecting Primary Care and After-Hours Services

Having a solid, long-term relationship with your Regular General Practitioner (GP) is at the heart of the Australian healthcare system. However, people sometimes fall ill or are injured when their doctor's office is closed. This is where home doctor coordination in NSW becomes essential.

At 13CURE, we recognise the importance of your regular doctor's involvement and do not compete with the doctor's office. We provide urgent care after hours when your regular clinic is closed. We aim to support communication between after-hours services and your regular GP.

For more information, see the Home Doctor Visit page, which outlines the services available in NSW and QLD.

Ensuring Care Continuity by Sharing Medical Records

Care coordination at its best can only happen when clinical information is shared accurately and promptly. During a home visit, relevant clinical information may be documented to ensure continuity of care with your home doctor and to keep your regular doctor fully updated.

1. The Electronic Reporting Process

While seeing you at home, the doctor will write down what was discussed using secure, encrypted medical software, which is:

• Clinical Background: The primary reason for the visit and your current symptoms.
• Observations: Vital signs (blood pressure, temperature) and physical clinical assessment notes.
• Medications: Details of any prescriptions issued or "starter packs" provided.
• Referrals: Urgent requests for pathology, radiology, or specialist review.

2. Direct Clinic Communication

A clinical summary is typically shared with your regular GP clinic. It is usually done via secure messaging apps used by GP clinics across Australia, so it is part of your patient record even before the clinic opens.

Coordinated care is a focus in Australia, and you can find more information at:

• Australian Department of Health: The Health Care System.
• Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care: Clinical Communications.

Improving the "Medical Home" Model

The "Medical Home" concept refers to a healthcare practice that coordinates all aspects of a patient's care. One way 13CURE supports this idea is by providing after-hours services with direct reporting to the primary practice.

• Preventing Fragmentation: One key risk of after-hours care is fragmentation, in which one doctor treats you without knowing your history. We mitigate this by ensuring that after-hours GP services and your regular GP stay connected.
• Supporting Chronic Disease Management: While we address acute issues, our reports support your GP's long-term care planning, especially for elderly patients managing complex conditions.

When Should You Schedule Follow-Ups with Your GP

The purpose of a home visit is to assess urgent, non-emergency health concerns after hours. However, the recovery process may require a follow-up visit to the GP. Our doctors, giving the continuity of care with home doctors, will direct and recommend the follow-up with your regular GP clinic, in the scenarios below:

1. Medication Review

If a new medication is prescribed after-hours during the visit, your regular GP will be responsible for checking your progress when you have finished the medication or if the symptoms persist.

2. Test Results and Referrals

In case the home doctor has arranged for lab tests or any imaging procedure, you will have to consult your regular GP after you have received the results. They will be in the best position to incorporate the findings into your existing health plan.

3. Persistent Symptoms

Should the symptoms not improve within 24 to 48 hours, an assessment at your regular clinic will be necessary. Unlike a one-off after-hours visit, your regular GP can continue ongoing care.

Discover daytime vs. after-hours visits and book a home doctor online for immediate care.

How "My Health Record" Comes into Play

In addition to direct reporting, 13CURE is a staunch advocate of My Health Record. This is a nation-wide digital health summary that can be accessed by both after-hours doctors and GPs, highlighting essential information such as:

• Currently taken and previously prescribed medications.
• Allergies and adverse reactions.
• Vaccination records.
• History of discharged hospital reports.

This shared digital summary supports communication between healthcare providers and is managed in accordance with our privacy policy.

Wrap-Up: Teamwork Leading to Better Care

Health care runs smoothly when it's a team effort. 13CURE realises that without a strong GP relationship, after-hours services are designed to complement regular GP care. While we provide care for you at night, we support information sharing with your regular GP.