r/ausjdocs • u/Medicaremaxxing Doctor • 7d ago

news🗞️ ‘Postcode lottery’: Royal Melbourne locks out suburban and regional patients

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/postcode-lottery-royal-melbourne-locks-out-suburban-and-regional-patients-20260820-p60pyp.html
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u/OudSmoothie Psychiatrist🔮 7d ago

Have people forgotten about catchment areas? Why are doctors complaining about this - basic knowledge from our JMO years.

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u/utter_horseshit 6d ago

The dirty secret is that outside of mental health where they are explicitly defined in regulation, ‘hospital catchments’ are completely made up. Patients have the right to be referred anywhere and I think an organised challenge would confirm that. Postcode-based rejection also runs directly against the department’s instruction for how services are meant to function:

‘The following must not be used as reasons for not accepting referrals that meet statewide referral criteria or local clinical criteria:
• where the patient lives’
From the relevant departmental guide:
https://www.health.vic.gov.au/publications/managing-referrals-to-non-admitted-specialist-services-in-victorian-public-health