August 21, 2014
The Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service says South Burnett residents received almost $2 million in patient travel subsidies during the 2013-14 financial year.
The Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme provides assistance to patients, and in some cases their carers, to enable them to access specialist medical services that are not available locally.
A subsidy to assist with the cost of travel and accommodation is available in cases where the nearest specialist medical service is more than 50km from the patient’s nearest hospital.
In the South Burnett, more than 3350 patients benefitted from the scheme during 2013-14.
DDHHS Chief Executive Dr Peter Bristow said some of the major reasons for travel were cardiology, medical oncology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, and diagnostic radiology.
