Medical emergencies.

The New South Wales hospital system is facing a medical emergency due to the sheer numbers of people presenting for emergency treatment. Unfortunately many of these people are not recognised as patients with critical needs - and consequently they impede attention to those seriously ill.
Mostly this is a matter of economics. Private doctors charge fees and the number offering bulk billing services - at no charge to the patient - is dwindling as the costs of running a practice increase. As a result, patient attend emergency rooms for help with trivial matters such as a sprained ankle or to get a prescription renewed.
With an election due next month the NSW government has come up with a plan to alleviate this overload. It proposes establishing bulk billing medical consultancies adjacent to emergency rooms. Hopefully, those with minor ailments will proceed directly there - but if they present in the emergency room they will be redirected by the triage nurse.
It sounds good but the devil will be in the detail. Will hospitals have the room to house such a service in close proximity to emergency rooms ? And will there be medical people available to man such a facility, given that there is a severe shortage of doctors in this country ?
And thirdly - will it happen ?
The public are deeply suspicious of promises made just before elections. This sounds like a good idea - but will all hospitals be involved ? Or will it just apply to one or two " showcase " hospitals ? Or will it become the subject of a ministerial enquiry to plan the event - which ends up shelved somewhere in the archives ?
The remarkable thing about the law is that we - as individuals - can be held responsible for what we contract to do. Unfortunately that law does not apply to politicians. Prior to elections politicians and political parties are free to make outrageous promises that they have no intention of implementing. Our only redress when such promises are broken is to deliver censure at the next election.
Unfortunately, voters suffer from a curious form of amnesia. By the next election they have forgotten - and they go ahead and make the same mistake !