Emergency Alternatives

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Content last updated 17/05/2024

Sick or injured after hours?

There are other options than making a trip to a hospital emergency department.

COVID-19

There are a number of options for Gold Coast community members to be assessed and tested for COVID-19 if they have respiratory symptoms such as a cough, fever, sore throat, shortness of breath.

Only visit the emergency department if it is an emergency

Keep hospital emergency departments free for people that need them most and use these alternatives to seek help if it is not an emergency:

  • Need medical assistance?
Call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) Talk to a registered nurse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • Get immediate advice over the phone

Talk to a registered nurse, 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling

13 HEALTH (13 42 25 84) or

a Mental Health Care specialist on 1300 MH CALL (1300 64 2255)

  • Check your symtoms online

How do you know if you need to attend the emergency department, see a GP, seek afterhours medical care or have a home-doctor visit?

Visit www.healthdirect.gov.au/symptom-checker to guide you to the appropriate healthcare action.

  • Need a doctor?

See your GP or click here to find a doctor in your area, after hours service or call a home doctor.

  • Is it an emergency?

If it is an emergency and you require urgent assistance go to hospital or call 000 for an ambulance.

Why it’s important to choose the right option for medical care

The Emergency Department (ED) at Robina Hospital and the Gold Coast University Hospital help care for more than 14,500 people each month. That’s almost 500 patients a day!

While life-threatening injuries and illnesses are tended to quickly, many people with less severe conditions complain of long wait times at the hospital.

Some injuries or illnesses could have been more appropriately and efficiently treated by another health professional including a GP or pharmacist.

In Queensland public hospitals, there are approximately 360,000 presentations every six months that could have been treated elsewhere. Examples include an estimated:

  • 38,000 sprains or strains
  • 1,800 prescription refills
  • 1,500 requests for medical certificates
  • 2,700 splinters
  • 6,500 ear infections
  • 4,000 urinary tract infections
  • 3,300 tonsillitis
  • 1,000 blisters

If it is an emergency and you require urgent assistance go to the hospital or call 000 for an ambulance.