No resources for Opthalmology Outpatient Clinics. Where to go?

I know this is a few weeks old but I couldn’t resist posting when I read thatsnotme’s comment. I knew exactly which doc she is talking about – if it’s not obvious to you, as far as I know this doc is the only female doc at the Canberra Eye Hospital, so it’s not hard to figure out. When I told my GP I never wanted to see her again, he knew EXACTLY why as all his other patients said the same thing. Seems like this doc has also been posting fake reviews about themselves on doc review sites, you can pick the genuine ones easily when you’ve actually seen this doc, the many fake ones extremely obvious.

Anyway, to those that suggested seeing Dr Ian Dunlop (the supposedly nice guy on the ad in TV), you do realise that ad is just an ad to promote Lasik surgery, right? If you are happy to see an eye doc who feels it’s ethical to actively promote elective surgeries which come with free no-waiting consultations whilst those with real medical issues wait 6 months or more and pay hundreds of dollars to see him, go right ahead and put your trust in Dr Dunlop. For everyone else, I’d suggest not bothering with the Canberra Eye Hospital unless you need a cataract surgery or Lasik. I’ve seen other docs there apart from the previously mentioned extremely unpleasant female doc, and they are just as useless and disinterested in any patient who doesn’t come attached with a lucrative private surgery (they just might be a bit more tactful about fobbing you off)

Regarding the Canberra Hospital public eye clinic, they are much better than the private eye hospital if you have a condition which they deal with – I have been to their cornea clinic which hopefully they still run, and it is totally different to the eye hospital who basically tell you to F off if you don’t need a surgery. Plus the public hospital clinic is free.

For those who the public hospital eye clinic won’t take, I think the only option is to head out of Canberra as the private eye hospital is just a waste of money. Waits may be much less in Sydney in any case in my experience. Dr Tridgell in Canberra is apparently good, but told me he wasn’t taking new patients. Good luck to all of you needing care from an eye doc in Canberra as it’s really hard. I’ll also add that you don’t need to waste money on a GP for a referal to an eye doc, get one from an optometrist who almost always bulk bill.

You could try to just see any private opthalmologist in Sydney, rather than go straight to the hospital. You;ll just need a GP referral to that opthalmologist, rather than a paediatrician referral to the hospital.

I don’t know how long the waits are in sydney, but at least you will probably find one who is taking on patients.

Hellno said :

You will probably need to give the Canberra Eye Hospital a shot. There are quite a lot of ophthalmologists there including the very nice Iain Dunlop (the guy in their ad on TV) and it may not be as bad as the experience of thatsnotme, particularly if you see a different doctor.

I’m not sure that will be an option, unfortunately. I know that when we went there, we were simply referred to the practice, not any particular ophthalmologist. We had no idea who we would be seeing beforehand, and while there may be really nice ophthalmologists working there, we didn’t get to experience any of them…so whenever the subject of the Canberra Eye Hospital comes up, my immediate reaction is ‘run as far and as fast as you can’.

I would have to say that we probably experienced the worst of the practice though. The ophthalmologist we dealt with had a reputation that extended to THC, and Westmead. Whenever my wife called, and said that she’d had a bad experience at the Canberra Eye Hospital, the person she was speaking to knew exactly who she was speaking about. I’d be more willing to cut the practice as a whole more slack, if it wasn’t for the fact that they continue to employ someone with a reputation that’s bad enough it extends hundreds of kilometers.

You will probably need to give the Canberra Eye Hospital a shot. There are quite a lot of ophthalmologists there including the very nice Iain Dunlop (the guy in their ad on TV) and it may not be as bad as the experience of thatsnotme, particularly if you see a different doctor.

I suspect ACT Health would like to provide better ophthalmology services but as in other departments in the hospital sometimes it’s nigh on impossible to recruit staff.

sepi said :

Shite system – I would head straight for Sydney, or perhaps try goulburn or somewhere like that for an opthalmologist. Our Canberra Eye hosp dr sends kids to Sydney for operations anyway, so if you’re not happy with Canb. eye hospital, I’d go straight to sydney.

Slight bump in the situation – Sydney wont’ accept a referral from a GP (only a specialist). So off to see a Paediatrician to get a referral..then find out the Paediatrician needs a referral from the GP..then find out the GP needs to see the kiddlet again because the original GP is on leave! It’s like an endless merry-go-round!
As a side note – no one that I spoke to in the Paediatricians office or the GP’s office knew that TCH doesn’t have a Paediatric Ophthalmologist.
Thank you for your responses.

eye health services are another Canberra health nightmare.

I waited 6 months to see a dr at Canberra Eye hospital. In that time the dr we were booked with left and we got someone else – luckily he turned out to be good. the place is shite, the receptionists are incompetent dragons, the system is ridiculous – they wanted me to fax a ‘general referral’ and they would choose who we could see. My dr wanted to write a referral to a specific person, not just a referral to that private business. The number of dr visits and phone calls I had to make just to get an appt with them was ridiculous, and then it took 4 months or something to get in anyway – and this for a baby, where the sooner they get treatment, the better their lifelong vision and hand-eye coordination will be. I feel like sueing Katy G for the costs of my child’s ongoing eye issues.

Shite system – I would head straight for Sydney, or perhaps try goulburn or somewhere like that for an opthalmologist. Our Canberra Eye hosp dr sends kids to Sydney for operations anyway, so if you’re not happy with Canb. eye hospital, I’d go straight to sydney.

Another tip is to try to get a morning appt for little kids – you will have to wait around a lot and if they are tired and cranky or just screaming with their eyes shut the appt is basically wasted.

“Able to see in private rooms” + “No time to see in public clinic” = wrong ratio of public:private workload on the part of VMOs… and lack of actual full-time staff specialist ophthalmologists because they’re essentially all VMOs.

Unfortunately the situation is unlikely to change unless one of two things happens… the public system pays staff specialists well enough to make full-time public practice the financially / personally attractive option… or… some weird new breed of ophthalmologist emerge who are immune to the sense of entitlement that seems to come with several years of arduous postgraduate training and to the temptation of pursuing the more lucrative option of predominantly private practice.

DJMac, thank you very much – that is reassuring!

To birder – I wouldn’t scare yourself – Medicare will pay where ever you are treated in Australia as long as you have a Medicare card. I have had referrals to specialists in Sydney and Melbourne (long term issues) and have never had a problem with Medicare paying their share. Only problems have been transport there and accomodation – luckily I have friends and family who are willing to put me up.