Overwhelming demand for the new after-hours doctor service in Canberra has left operators scrambling to keep up.
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The bulk-billing service was launched jsut over a month ago and has visited more than 1200 patients.
National Home Doctor Service chief executive Ben Keneally said many people had to be turned away because there were not enough doctors to attend to would-be patients.
"We did not have the capacity to meet that demand," he said.
"We could have seen another 20 to 30 per cent more patients than we saw which I think is a reflection of the underlying demand and that it's been a busy winter.
"We saw over 1200 patients in the past month and that is about 50 per cent more than we were expecting.
"We are busy recruiting doctors and we have staff in the pipelines."
Mr Keneally said it was financially viable to offer a bulk-billing service, as long as there was enough patients using the service.
"There are some special Medicare item numbers for after-hours home visits," he said.
"We have found it's all about keeping the balance – if we have enough patients we can keep the doctors busy and it becomes attractive for them to cover those hours."
The majority of Canberra call-outs had been for flu and flu-like conditions and gastro, especially in young children and senior citizens.
"When you are 35 and healthy you may think 'I'll just ride it out' but when you are older you really start to worry at night time and it's great to have reassurance and see a doctor," Mr Keneally said.
Mr Keneally said strong support from the ACT government had helped get the word out about the service and social media had been surprisingly helpful.
"We have had enormously positive feedback and when our doctors say 'how did you hear about us' the number one response is 'Facebook'," Mr Keneally said.
"Mums will post on Facebook 'the baby is sick and I'm worried' and the other mums say 'ring this number'."
The service, which also runs in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Geelong and south-east Queensland, operates from 6pm on weeknights, noon on Saturdays, all-day on Sundays and does not compete with general practice.