Patient Assistance Travel Scheme

[Jules2]

I have to ask if anyone else views this situation the same way that i do. Background: I have cancer and had to be royal flying doctored up to perth some 200 kms away from where i live. I spent a month in hospital and then was allowed home under supervision only. This continued till nearly the end of my chemotherapy. For the first 21 days i could not speak and looking back i am sure i was in some sort of shock. My mother who i organised to sign over for centrelink purposes and hospital issues is 82 and my son is 21 and he suffers from depression. Now my support group is not all that strong and a lot of things were left up to me or i had to sort them out when i was able. Pats being one of the issues. My last dealings with them were when i went to perth to have my first scope and also a biopsy done on another lump that i had found. Now i know you all realise that stress levels were up and then pats wanted me to ring from the hospital and give them a fax number so that they could then send me a form that i needed to get the doctor to fill in. The pats person then informs me that anything over 2 months will not be paid. I said that we have a problem as i hadnt had a chance (insert head space) to sort something out that needed to be sorted and it was over 2 months. Then i read that the system was apparently revamped earlier this year and i think to myself ... omgosh, what must it have been like? Why can they simply not give us a card similar to the credit cards that can be thrown away once used and then information from the hospital be given straight to pats. There is a double bonus here, one pats could cut down the amount of staff that they need as they wont have so many calls to deal with and two it alleviates a whole lot of paperwork and stress for the cancer patient, which to be honest i would have thought would be paramount. Ok, so i should actually put a question in here i suppose. Would anyone else have struggled as i have under the same circumstances? I know its hard to say exactly if you have not experienced but anyone that has had to deal with cancer would sure have a great insight. 🙂 Julie

[Sailor]

Hi Julie Lots of people have struggled under the various state jurisdiction patient assistance travel schemes - you are not alone in this one. It seems so blindingly obvious that something like a travel card would solve a lot of problems. Yet no state bureaucracy has come up with that as a solution. In all states the forms that have to be filled in and the miserable amount you are reimbursed ands the petty-fogging that goes on about the exact distance you have to travel. It is something that we could do without when we are ill and needing to travel. Suggestion to everyone - write to your local state MP about it. They have to respond to a constituent letter. Just a suggestion. Cheers Sailor The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. William Arthur Ward


[Jules2]

Hey Sailor Thanks for your reply as always. I am really going to pursue this one aswell as some other issues for cancer patients. I can only comment as a country cancer patient as that is what i am. It realy is daibolical the hoops we are expected to jump through to get some assistance. I still have not had an official comment on my biopsy from before christmas although i was unofficially told that there was nothing drastic there. Not only do we get reimbursed not much at all but we have to live on absolutely not much at all. In fact if my son was not working and without the support of my mother i am not sure how i would survive. I still owe you a post from the 500 miles ... i started out forming it in my mind but ever time i started to write it the words would just disappear. Julie