The most isolated people in regional South Australia are struggling to travel for healthcare with delays in subsidies.
The Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) provides subsidies for South Australians who travel over 100 km each way to access healthcare.
Member for Flinders Sam Telfer recently told parliament his office has received an escalation in community concerns regarding extended response times – with some waiting up to several months.
“I’m calling on the Health Minister to act swiftly, to put more resources into the administration of that scheme to ensure that waiting times are back to where they should be, Mr Telfer said.
“Health patients from within my electorate in particular rely on an effective PATS system as the specialist health delivery within my community is very limited, and thus, those patients need to travel significant distance – usually to Adelaide which is 500+ km away – to receive that care.”
