Your Health Service
Standards of service | How to use health services | Transfers to other health services | Emergency Care | Non-emergency care | Waiting times | Children in hospital | Visiting rightsStandards of service
Our staff will look after you with care and skill in keeping with recognised standards, practices and ethics.
We will respect your dignity. We will treat you, your family, friends and carers courteously and with full acknowledgment of your culture, religious beliefs and conscientious convictions, sexual orientation, disability issues and your right to privacy.
How to use health services
As an Australian resident you will:
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have access to a range of public hospital and community-based health services;
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receive health care on the basis of assessed health need regardless of your financial situation or whether you have private health insurance;
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receive immediate care in a public hospital when urgent treatment is needed to prevent loss of life in an emergency;
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receive care within a reasonable time when you have non emergency health needs.
Eligibility criteria apply for some services. For example, access to public dental services is restricted to persons who are normally resident in NSW and who hold certain Commonwealth Pensioner Concession Cards.
Emergency dental care is available to non-residents of NSW. If you are unsure of your eligibility for any services, you should contact the Healthline or your nearest health service.
If you are not an Australian resident you will receive immediate care in an emergency. However, you should ask your doctor or the hospital staff about costs for any health care.
Transfers to other health services
Public hospitals and community health centres provide a wide range of services.
If you require special health care that is not available locally, you will be referred to a hospital or centre where the treatment can be provided.
In an emergency, if a hospital cannot provide the treatment that you need, you may be transferred to another hospital that can treat your condition.
Emergency Care
Emergency Departments of hospitals provide free emergency health care to all patients who are Australian residents.
People usually use Emergency Departments after an accident or in the case of a serious illness that has come on suddenly.
Emergency Departments treat people on the basis of the seriousness of their health problems and not on the basis of who arrives first. This means that someone who arrives after you may get to see a doctor or nurse first because she or he has a more serious health problem.
Emergency Departments can also be used to access acute care mental health services.
Non-emergency care
The time you must wait for non-emergency health care will depend on an assessment of your health problem and the availability of the particular health care that you need.
If you need to be admitted to hospital for non emergency health care you will be put on a waiting list for hospital admission. See the section on waiting times for more information.
If you have an illness or condition that is not urgent you can also see your General Practitioner.
Waiting times
Public hospitals have introduced new ways of managing waiting times.
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General Practitioners usually have information about the time you will have to wait to see various medical specialists or be admitted to various hospitals.
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You can also ask your General Practitioner if she or he knows or can find out the time you will have to wait to get treatment from a medical specialist at a hospital.
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If you think the waiting time is too long, you can ask your General Practitioner if she or he can suggest a medical specialist or hospital with a shorter waiting time.
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If you are already waiting to be admitted to a hospital and you are worried about the waiting time, you can ask the medical specialist if the waiting time can be reduced.
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If you are not happy you can also contact your local Area Health Service or Patient Access at the NSW Health Department.
Community Health Centres may also have waiting times for some services - make sure you ask about how long you may have to wait.
Children in hospital
We like parents to stay with their children in hospital wherever possible.
Children benefit from the presence of their parents during procedures such as the giving of an anaesthetic, when they wake up, and during dental procedures.
Visiting rights
We will respect your right to receive visitors with full acknowledgment of your culture, religious beliefs and conscientious convictions, sexual orientation, disability issues, and your right to privacy. For example, visiting rights for family members of Aboriginal patients will acknowledge Aboriginal definitions of family; same sex partners will be offered the same visiting rights as other couples; access to people with guide dogs will be provided.