{"id":7834,"date":"2020-08-24T07:32:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T07:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=7834"},"modified":"2020-08-24T07:32:12","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T07:32:12","slug":"gp-led-respiratory-clinics-continue-to-serve-australians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/08\/24\/gp-led-respiratory-clinics-continue-to-serve-australians\/","title":{"rendered":"GP-led respiratory clinics continue to serve Australians"},"content":{"rendered":"

People experiencing acute respiratory symptoms, however mild, should make an appointment at their local respiratory clinic and see a GP free, which includes any relevant treatment and testing for COVID-19.
\nAll GP-led respiratory clinics, staffed by highly skilled professionals, are part of the Australian Government\u2019s comprehensive and rapid response to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
\nThere are now 146 respiratory clinics open. Twenty are part of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and 82 are located in regional Australia. The clinics are serving people from more than 2,200 postcodes nationally covering 98.5 per cent of the Australian population.
\nMore than half a million consultations have taken place nationally within the respiratory clinics, with over 440,000 tests for COVID-19 conducted.
\nThis is an incredible achievement and demonstrates the commitment of the GPs and other health professionals to support the fight against COVID-19.
\nThe Australian Government is providing particular support to Victoria as it combats the COVID-19 outbreak at its 28 GP-led respiratory clinics.
\nThe clinics in Victoria have assessed more than 153,200 people and conducted more than 138,000 tests. These clinics are seeing approximately 70 per cent more patients per day when compared to pre-outbreak assessments in early June.
\nWe encourage Victorians to continue to be tested so we can identify where new break-outs of the virus are occurring and ultimate support the efforts to control its spread.
\nThe Government acknowledges the work of all of the respiratory clinics, who have shown great resilience and commitment to supporting their local community, including building additional capacity when needed through staffing and opening hours.
\nIn NSW, 51 GPRCs have assessed more than 201,600 people and conducted over 180,900 tests. Five weeks ago, the NSW Clinics increased their capacity by approximately 40 per cent.
\nIn March, the Australian Government announced a $2.4 billion health package to protect all Australians, including vulnerable groups such as the elderly, those with chronic conditions and Indigenous communities, from COVID-19.
\nThe package provides unprecedented support across primary care, aged care, hospitals, research and the national medical stockpile including $206.7 million to establish GP respiratory clinics.
\nThese clinics are proving to be a vital part of the Government\u2019s strategy to keep the health system functioning.
\nThe respiratory clinics provide a safe and specialised service for people who have cold and flu symptoms while preserving hospitals for people with severe injuries and disease, and general practices for usual care and chronic disease management.
\nThe Government has a deep respect and gratitude for the GPs and other health professionals on the frontline of this pandemic.
\nWe can all help our frontline health professionals to slow the spread and stay COVIDSafe by practising good hygiene and physical distancing, following the limits for public gatherings, understanding how to isolate if you need to, and by downloading the COVIDSafe app.
\nIf there are no clinics near you, contact your doctor, local community health service or local hospital for assistance. Make sure you phone ahead and discuss your symptoms before you visit in person.
\nFor more information on where to find your nearest coronavirus testing clinic, please visit\u00a0health.gov.au<\/a>,\u00a0DHHS Victoria<\/a>\u00a0or your state or territory health department website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People experiencing acute respiratory symptoms, however mild, should make an appointment at their local respiratory clinic and see a GP free, which includes any relevant treatment and testing for COVID-19. All GP-led respiratory clinics, staffed by highly skilled professionals, are part of the Australian Government\u2019s comprehensive and rapid response to minimise the spread of COVID-19. … Continue reading “GP-led respiratory clinics continue to serve Australians”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}