As it becomes more difficult to find specialist clinics with open books, doctors are now using social media to secure appointments for their patients. GPs in south australia and victoria have jumped into referral groups on Facebook designed to connect doctors and find appointments.
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00:00While on maternity leave in 2020, Adelaide GP Caitlin Summ created a doctors-only social
00:08media page as a hobby.
00:10It has become a go-to resource for doctors seeking specialist appointments.
00:15I was surprised when I set it up, I felt a little bit nervous that maybe no one would
00:19want to join, but in fact it's been the opposite.
00:22More than 2,000 South Australian doctors have joined the Adelaide GP referral network on
00:27Facebook and it's saving them valuable time.
00:30There's actually a bit of an art to finding the right specialist for a patient and referring
00:35a patient.
00:36Putting a shout out for a specialist on social media is cutting out the Google searches and
00:41asking around, at a time when many specialists have closed books and are not taking on new
00:46patients.
00:47I think it bridges that gap and allows us to communicate with each other better and
00:51get to know each other and communicate directly.
00:53We would all love to spend less time doing admin and more time seeing our patients.
00:58A similar page has started in Victoria with 800 members.
01:02The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says GPs are under increasing pressure, costs
01:08are rising, wait times are blowing out and specialists are difficult to book.
01:13Social media has become an important tool to quickly source information.
01:16GPs in the medical profession are hyper-connected and social media and those discussion spaces,
01:23just like everyone, is a really important resource that we use to connect.
01:28Only registered doctors can join these social media groups, they cannot upload clinical
01:32photos and must not identify patients.
01:35They risk breaching the medical board's code of conduct if they do.
01:39But Dr Sum says GPs are abiding by the rules as the value of the resource becomes evident.