AusDoc 13th Feb | Page 17

ausdoc. com. au 13 FEBRUARY 2026

17

VIEWS FROM YOUR ONLINE COMMUNITY

Quality care or an overshare?

Mandatory for all prescribers: Govt announces new national script system

I am assuming“ accessible to a patient’ s usual GP and other healthcare providers” would include all AHPRA-registered providers, so your chiropractor could see you’ d had three courses of mifepristone or your local Aboriginal health worker could see you’ d had STI treatment from a sexual health clinic interstate.

Is there such a pressing need for your optometrist or physio to know your antipsychotic details or that you had helicobacter treatment last year?

Would there be red flags, with a difficult airway during an urgent public hospital operation resulting in you being labelled a‘ ketamine user’?

I am glad the appallingly poor privacy of My Health Record caused me to opt out.

Dr Ian Hargreaves Surgeon, Sydney, NSW

I prescribe opioid replacement, including methadone. When colleagues fail to check QScript or similar tracking systems before prescribing monitored medicines to a methadone patient, there is a real danger that their new prescription will kill my patient.

Accidental overdose or cardiac arrest as a result of long QT is a feasible mechanism.

So I am pleased to see this expansion, especially because antibiotics— such as moxifloxacin, clarithromycin, ciprofloxacin and roxithromycin— will also be recorded.

There is a statistic that there are about 300 deaths a year( 1.2 per 100,000 in 2019) from medication issues.

I like my patients; I like to hear of their successes and restoration to function. I do not like hearing how they died.

Dr Andrew Rees GP, Toowoomba, Qld

The article states that the changes came about as a result of a campaign by the mother of a young woman, Erin, who died after overdosing on psychiatric medicines prescribed through different websites.

It is a very sad case, but this will create more work and red tape for GPs. And it is worth stressing that the government is still pushing for widespread prescribing( telehealth and pharmacists).

Dr Janet Reid GP, Bellarine Peninsula, Vic

I come from a larva down under

So where do Australia’ s medical maggots come from?

Wow! Eighty cents per maggot. Sounds like a bargain for medical therapy.

Dr Looi Ee Gastroenterologist and hepatologist, Brisbane, Qld

A fascinating article. Here is one more historical anecdote: Sir John Seymour Proud, who was the founder of the Peko mining company, suffered a compound fracture of the tibia in the Stinson airliner crash in 1937. He lay in the bush for nine days, unable to move, until the famous rescue party, led by Bernard O’ Reilly, discovered the survivors. Apparently, his leg wound was infested with maggots. He recovered fully, did not lose his leg and did not get osteomyelitis.

As the crash site was located right on the mountainous Queensland – NSW border ridge, it can only be speculated whether they were NSW or Queensland maggots.

Dr Stephen Hunt Retired doctor, Murwillumbah, NSW

A reductive rationale, really

Dollar-per-minute

Medicare items: Be careful what you wish for

“ Time is inversely proportional to experience in a consultation, and a good outcome is directly related to experience. Pretty simple, really.”

Your reductive argument fails to account for complexity of patient needs and the diversity of general practice.

Might I suggest some reading materials regarding the existing gender pay gap in the specialty.

Aside from gender, we can also consider the effects of the socioeconomic status of the patient, the area of subspecialisation of the GP, cultural factors or literacy factors.

Pretty complex, really. I do not have a simple formula for this.

We need a fairer system that better recognises the expertise of all doctors, not just the fast ones.

Dr Louise Karan GP, Blackheath, NSW

And where does GP experience / seniority fit in in the current rebates?

This article frankly makes no sense to me.

Dr Gaurav Tewary GP, Wollongong, NSW

A father, a gentleman and a scholar

My father was the best dad in the world, but I’ ve only just discovered he was a medical pioneer

Dr Martin Glasson was one of that generation who pioneered so much in paediatric surgery and medicine. They were wonderful, skilled and kind people. It is sad to see him and his generation go.

Thank you, Rachel, for writing about your father.

Dr Kerrie MacDonald GP, Goulburn, NSW

I was sad to learn about your father’ s death, Rachel.

I was his registrar back in 2000 at Westmead Hospital. He was a true pioneer, a wonderful doctor and a good man— even though I think I might have annoyed him some of the time.

Thank you for the beautiful article.

Dr Thomas Daly Surgeon, Sydney, NSW

Wake up and smell the solution

GPs will be‘ held to ransom’ if government kills gap-only billing

GPs held to ransom— so what’ s new?!

Dr Clive Kenna GP, Sydney, NSW

I sometimes wonder if, by some freak of nature, planetary alignment or whatever, someone at the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing who influences these things will ever wake up one morning and think:“ Hey, I have just thought of the perfect solution to this whole gapthingy dilemma to provide both convenience to patients and huge savings for Medicare.

“ We should just allow all rebates to be direct billed and let the service providers charge whatever gap market forces will allow at the desk as the customer leaves.

“ All then done and dusted, cheap as chips. I must tell the Health Minister.”

Dr Peter Bradley Retired doctor, Bribie Island, Qld

Inkblots without borders

Evil in the inkblots?

What happened when Nazi war criminals took the Rorschach test

“ We must conclude not only that such personalities of the Nazi war criminals are not unique or insane but also that they could be duplicated in any country of the world today,” Dr Kelley wrote.

The article goes on to say, while Nazis, such as Göring, were strong, dominant, aggressive, egocentric personalities, they were personalities you could find“ anywhere in the country— behind big desks, deciding big affairs as businessmen, politicians, racketeers”.

And you could add, certainly behind the biggest desk in the White House today.

Dr Shaun Hunt Medical practitioner, Melbourne, Vic

Many years ago, my sister( also a GP) gave me a set of Rorschach drink coasters.

This article has prompted me to look at them again; they are very Victorian in style.

Dr Hermann Rorschach, born in Switzerland, was apparently known to his school friends and in his fraternity as Klex, or‘ inkblot’, since he enjoyed klecksography: the making of fanciful inkblot pictures.

So many rabbit holes to wonder / wander into.

An interesting article by Bella Rough, thank you.

Dr Mark Miller GP, Goolwa, SA