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Caring for Australians | Home Doctor | 13SICK

Each year, 13SICK provides urgent after hours medical care to more than a million patients around Australia. Many of those patients are babies or young children. Others are senior citizens or aged care residents. In the evenings, late at night, or on the weekends, our Doctors are on the road, bringing urgent medical care to patients suffering illness and injury.

More than half the calls we receive are made not by the patients themselves, but by carers. They may be the worried parents of sick children, the husband or wife of a sick partner, the carer of an ageing relative, or the nurses or clinical managers in an aged care facility.

Picture of doctor with little girl

It is always very worrying when a loved one falls ill in the after hours, and our Doctors are very aware of this. Along with their specialised clinical skills, our Doctors are well trained at the time-honoured skill of the “bedside manner” – lending a sympathetic ear, and calming anxieties the patient or caregiver may have.

Our Doctors are also very aware of the special needs of patients, from treating infants and small children, whose symptoms often get worse at night, to treating patients with a disability, to relieving the distress of an asthma flare up, or helping families with ageing relatives. 

Time after time our patients write to us and tell us how wonderful our Doctors are. We know! Because our Doctors are able to give the expert care, kindness and reassurance that you would expect from your GP, but in your home environment, in the evening, late at night, or on the weekend, when GP Practices are closed.  

Urgent medical care

Our Doctors treat common, acute conditions such as respiratory infections, migraines, gastro, ear infections, fevers, urinary tract infections, and injuries from falls: conditions that, while not life-threatening, require urgent medical attention. To read more about the main reasons our patients call us, click here.

Starter packs of medications

During the consultation, the Doctor may decide that the patient requires medication. All our Doctors carry a Doctor’s bag stocked with starter packs of various medications, so if needed, the patient can get started on the treatment straight away. 

All visits are bulk billed*

We bulk bill all home visits for patients with a Medicare or Gold DVA card. If the patient does not have a Medicare or Gold DVA card, you can still book a doctor home visit and pay by credit card (Visa or MasterCard). We will issue you a receipt, which you can take to Medicare for a full refund.

*if eligible for Medicare rebates

Telehealth consultations may incur a fee if your general practice does not subscribe to 13SICK and/or if you have not attended a face-to-face visit with your GP in the past 12-months.

Not for emergencies

13SICK is a service providing urgent medical care to patients in the after hours. It is not a service for medical emergencies. If symptoms are critical or life-threatening, you should call triple zero (000) or go straight to hospital. Nor does 13SICK treat requests for routine medical care. All routine medical treatment, such as prescription repeats, immunisations, pathology requests, referrals, check ups or chronic disease management, should be handled by your GP.   

Continuity of care with your GP

After the home visit, 13SICK send our doctor’s medical report through to the patient’s nominated GP, so they are kept in the loop. This is important to maintain continuity of care, because your family GP knows your medical history, and is the best person to manage the ongoing health of you and your family. To read more about the importance of having your own GP, click here

Feedback from our patients

Feedback from our patients is important to us. From time to time we send out a short survey asking patients about their experience with 13SICK. By doing this, we can continually improve our service to ensure our patients get the very best medical care.