It is important to understand how the Australian health system works so you can choose the best care for you or someone you care for.
Types of care
There are many different health professionals and services including:
- Primary care services: These are the first services you will see in the community, such as general practitioners (GPs), primary care nurse practitioners, community nurses, pharmacists and Aboriginal health workers.
- Secondary care services: These services offer more specialised care than primary care services, such as appointments and treatments with doctors who have extra training and experience in specific parts of the body. You need a referral from a primary care provider or another specialist to access these services. Secondary care is usually provided in hospitals, clinics or outpatient settings.
- Hospital health services: These are services provided by hospitals such as emergency care, in-patient care, and outpatient services that are provided at a hospital, such as having a scan, or seeing a specialist, nurse practitioner or allergy nurse.
- Ambulance/ first responders: These services provide emergency care and can transport patients needing emergency and non-emergency medical care to hospital.
Public and private healthcare
In Australia, there are public health services and private health services. You can go to a public health service for free or low-cost care, or you can choose a private health service where you will have to pay towards the total costs.
Public health services
The Australian Government provides free or low-cost medical care and hospital services through Medicare. If you have a current Medicare card, you will receive free or low-cost treatment as a public patient in a public hospital.
The types of care that you might receive in the public health service include:
- As a patient in the emergency department.
- As an inpatient, such as when you are admitted to hospital for a test, an operation or an overnight stay.
- As an outpatient, such as when you go to an appointment in a hospital outpatient clinic.
If you are being treated as a public patient in a public hospital you will not be able to choose your doctor or any other member of your healthcare team.
Some public hospitals and health services provide healthcare for allergies, however:
- Not all public hospitals have an allergy/immunology service.
- Some hospitals only accept patients who live in the local area or patients who have certain medical needs.
- You might need to wait longer to see a public allergy specialist compared to seeing a private allergy specialist.
- If you have a referral to a public allergy clinic, you may see a doctor training in allergy who is supervised by an allergy specialist.
- Some allergy clinics have rules on who they accept referrals from. For example, a child may need a referral from a paediatrician, not a GP or nurse practitioner, to see a certain type of specialist.
Allergy care in public hospital clinics may include:
- Appointments with an allergy specialist or the doctor they are training.
- Appointments with a nurse practitioner or allergy nurse.
- Tests such as blood tests, skin prick tests, breathing tests, food challenges, drug challenges and other allergy tests.
- Treatments such as immunotherapy.
- Appointments with a dietitian or a psychologist, if they are part of the hospital allergy service.
Emergency allergy care
Emergency departments in hospitals manage emergency care for severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) whether it has an allergy service or not. Before you leave the emergency department, you should be told what the next steps are for follow-up care. Depending on where you live, you may need to visit a larger hospital or a specialist in a different location for ongoing care and/or specialist care.
See our Care you should expect if you experience anaphylaxis page for more information
It is important to remember that both public and private patients have the same access to public hospital services.
Private health services
Private health services are owned by private organisations. The government will pay some of the costs towards your care in private health services, but you will have to pay the rest. Some Australians have private health insurance to help pay for private health services. Private health insurance will pay for some or all of the costs for hospital care.
To get private health insurance you need to buy a policy from a registered health insurer, this usually means making monthly payments.
You do not need to have private health insurance to be a private patient, but there will be additional costs that you will need to pay.
Benefits of being a private hospital patient
- You can choose you own doctor (as long as they work in the hospital you are in)
- You can decide whether to be treated in a private hospital or as a private patient in a public hospital
- You may have your own room, not a shared room with other patients, depending on availability
- After discharge from hospital you can have follow up care with the same doctor in their private consulting rooms.
For more information on what is covered with private health insurance
For more information on private patient rights and responsibilities
For more information on private health insurance
Private allergy specialists
You may choose to see an allergy specialist in a private clinic. This is often called their ‘private rooms’. This means you can choose your specialist and see the same one at each appointment. Most private clinics can also provide allergy testing.
Patients who do not meet the criteria for referral to a public hospital or have a condition that some hospitals may not treat e.g. severe eczema, environmental allergies, and non-IgE allergies may have to attend a private allergy clinic.
Private health insurance cannot be used for GP or allergy specialist appointments.
Allergy costs
Learn about the costs associated to managing allergies, from the private to public health system.
Understanding allergy care
Learn more about preparing for an emergency, and how to identify and respond to an allergic reaction including anaphylaxis.