New changes affecting panel doctors,important

[Guest Gollywobbler]

I think a new name for Mr.Evans should be Baldrick like the character from Blackadder. He always started with a 'Master, I have a cunning plan!' Which more often then not was doomed to failure.

It's amazing how these changes in policies really mess the system up. I can't for the life of me fathom how this particular change will benefit anyone.

Does this mean that a decision about an applicants health is made by the HOC or the Panel Doctor? I was under the assumption that no matter how soon the HOC recieves documents they get processed on a first come first served basis. I could understand it if a British based doctor was making the decision for the HOC and then forwarding his results to DIAC.

As we are reminded it is not the HOC who make a judgement upon our applications, the merely provide an opinion as to if we would be a strain in the Health system in Australia. Its the CO's etc who play god.

I'm wondering if there are a lack of doctors at HOC or a cheaper option would be to use the panel doctors based in the UK.

Maybe still I could have it all wrong??? Who knows?

 

Hoping that there is a light at the end of the tunnel

 

Kind regards

 

Ron Rocket

 

 

Hi Ronnie

 

Baldrick is about right for the Minister who is an irritating little twit, right up there with his namesake on TV.

 

The health decisions about skilled permanent and nearly all other visas are now made in Australia. If the Panel Doctor in the UK ticks Box A on Form 26 - meaning that the physical examination revealed no findings - then when the Form 26 reaches the HOC their clerical staff can sign the meds off as cleared.

 

If the Panel Doctor discovers anything which could remotely alter the threshold of $21,000 during the person's first 3-5 years in Oz (including the costs of special education for a child or state Benefits for an adult) then the Panel Doctor must tick Box B on Form 26. In this event, when Form 26 reaches the HOC their clerical staff must put the meds file in "the basket." The basket goes upstairs to the doctors hired on DIAC's behalf, where a single GP whose own training may not include anything about the medical condition involved, decides whether or not the person meets the meds for migration.

 

With a skilled visa the CO has no room for manouvre. The legislation requires that the Minister must accept the word of the solo GP without argument. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians have driven a coach & horses through these notions in the current Senate Inquiry:

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/subs.htm

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest eddie]

Have just read this topic, and I realise now, why the rest of you (who have been "at this visa game" longer than us), are p***ed off! I have to agree with the majority of the comments, that its another "balls up" by the powers that be.

 

Maybe if the existing method(s) of data collection and processing are inadequate, then changes need to be made, but what is wrong with allowing the existing methods to continue, whilst "phasing in " the new?

 

Told my other half about this, she rolled her eyes and said "where do we have to go to get our medicals then?, Timbuctoo"?...........................

 

 

Paul

[Guest maju]

Hi all,

 

I'm trying to establish what doctors/surgeries are able to do the checks now, but I'm puzzled here.

 

Even though my surgery is on the list at

United Kingdom – Panel Doctors

the receptionist says they aren't on the list and they don't the checks (even today/tomorrow) .

 

Few people seem to know where a new list is as they were saying that, for example, Glasgow is off the list but at the one I'm looking it is still there.

 

Thanks

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Maju

 

Nobody seems to know what is going on. You just have to phone round the doctors and x-ray clinics on the UK list until you find people who are still able to do the meds. It is a hopeless muddle at the moment.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest VickyMel]

Hi

 

Sorry if someone has already said this I was just checking our area and I noticed that the panel list now has an "e" next to what I assume are the Drs that can offer the e-health if that is what they are requiring. Hope I am not out of it I have not been following the thread.

United Kingdom – Panel Doctors

 

Not sure if that will make it quicker when ringing around?

VickyMel

[Guest rachbarlow]

Hi Maju

 

Nobody seems to know what is going on. You just have to phone round the doctors and x-ray clinics on the UK list until you find people who are still able to do the meds. It is a hopeless muddle at the moment.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

The only concern I have about this for people is that there may be some doc's who are not fully aware of this change, or think to hell with it carry on as normal as we have had no proper info, as the DIAC are so informative (sarcasic!!).

 

There posing the problem that some may go for meds at place 'no longer on the DIAC list', but is on the list currently accessible on the internet as they have NOT bothered informing people or producing a new list. I would hate for peeps to have to pay out again for meds............. however like usual there is nothing 'proper' in place to stop this from happening...........just a thought.

 

I know I may be looking into this too deep, but I have learned a great deal over the past 3 years about this system............ there isn't one!!!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi

 

Sorry if someone has already said this I was just checking our area and I noticed that the panel list now has an "e" next to what I assume are the Drs that can offer the e-health if that is what they are requiring. Hope I am not out of it I have not been following the thread.

United Kingdom – Panel Doctors

 

Not sure if that will make it quicker when ringing around?

VickyMel

 

 

Hi VickyMel

 

I have been chatting with Janice this morning. She is Dr Goodall's Practice Manager in Southampton.

 

Janice says she has been told by DIAC that they want "one stop shops" in the UK. Dr Goodall and the Chalybeate BUPA hopsital in Southampton both offered to make a room at the hospital available for Dr Goodall to use and he does the blood tests himself so that is not a problem. That would create a "one stop shop" in Southampton but apparently this notion is not acceptable to DIAC for some inexplicable reason which DIAC have not bothered to explain to the medical people in Southampton.

 

Janice says that Australia turned this offer down. As far as she knows. Winchester might be able to continue to do everything in Hampshire though she was not absolutely certain and said to phone everyone in Winchester to make sure. She says that in Winchester people have to go to three different places for the x-rays, the blood tests and the doctor but she believes that this split up may be allowed to continue.

 

Janice says that the Panel Doctors in Bournememouth have been closed down, along with Dr Goodall and the BUPA Hospital in Southampton. Dr Goodall is a really nice man. He is an Aussie and he did visa meds because he is interested in why people want to move to Oz and he has been all over Australia himself so he can speak knowledgeably about the different climates, the industries in different parts of Oz, where all the main minerals are found and so on.

 

I asked Janice why DIAC have suddenly decided on this change in the UK? Janice says she does not know. She said they were offered a visit by the Auditor when he was in the UK. Whereas Dr Goodall is an Aussie, this other doctor (the Auditor) was British and he did his medical training in Southampton. She says he spent 2 hours with Dr Goodall, looked at everything and said that Dr G's clinic is OK. He then went back to Australia. Two days later they received an e-mail saying that Southampton is to be taken off the DIAC-approved list.

 

Dr Goodall is a reasonable guy and he acts as the Panel Doctor for people on the Isle of Wight because no-one on the Island can do DIAC medicals. The ferries from the Island (Cowes) come to the town quay in Southampton. There is a free, regular bus to the railway station and people can get buses to the BUPA Hospital from there. There are plenty of buses to the centre of Southampton and Dr Goodall's surgery is only a short walk from the centre of town. There are also plenty of taxis in Southampton which one simply hails, as in London, and the distances are very short so the taxis are cheap.

 

Dr Goodall asked DIAC whom he should refer people to if he and the BUPA Hospital locally have been taken off the DIAC List? Janice says she has been told to refer people to Heathrow and Gatwick. Gatwick is not on the main London to Southampton train line, nor is Heathrow. It would cost Islanders £30 or £40 to bring their cars to the mainland on the ferries but that will be cheaper and quicker than trying to move a family of 4 around on the trains.

 

I've given Janice the phone number and e-mail address for David Wilden at Australia House in London. He is DIAC's Regional Director for Europe so hopefully he can sort out the Medical Mess in the UK.

 

It doesn't seem to be anything to do with e-Health. Instead it seems to be to do with the "one stop shop" idea and Dr Bryden in Glasgow has the e-Health label but people who have phoned her clinic say that she has been removed from the List.

 

Janice says she was told that the UK List of Panel Doctors would be altered immediately but that has not happened and there is no sign of it happening. Hopefully Dr Goodall can speak with David Wilden (they are both Australians) and hopefully the mess can be sorted out.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Gollywobbler]

The only concern I have about this for people is that there may be some doc's who are not fully aware of this change, or think to hell with it carry on as normal as we have had no proper info, as the DIAC are so informative (sarcasic!!).

 

There posing the problem that some may go for meds at place 'no longer on the DIAC list', but is on the list currently accessible on the internet as they have NOT bothered informing people or producing a new list. I would hate for peeps to have to pay out again for meds............. however like usual there is nothing 'proper' in place to stop this from happening...........just a thought.

 

I know I may be looking into this too deep, but I have learned a great deal over the past 3 years about this system............ there isn't one!!!

 

Hi Rach

 

You are absolutely right. Janice, whom I have mentioned in my post above, says that she has had to turn people away who were already booked to see Dr Goodall this week and next. She says that the e-mail they have had from DIAC is quite clear: they had to stop doing visa meds after January 11th and any meds which are received by the HOC in Sydney after Monday 18th will be declared null & void. She has been using couriers to get medicals to Australia until the last minute but she and Dr Goodall decided to stop doing the meds on the 11th as ordered.

 

I agree with Janice that people should phone Winchester and for safety they should also phone Australia House before risking using anyone in Winchester because the practice manager at the doctor in Winchester says that she has not received an e-mail from DIAC saying whether they are to continue or not. In these circumstances the doctor in Winchester has decided to continue to do visa meds but Janice said that this doctor in Winchester only does about 10 visa meds a week anyway.

 

I think that the assumption that no news is good news is unsafe. E-mails can easily go astray and so forth.

 

It sounds to me as if the change has happened so suddenly that quite a few doctors and x-ray clinics might not be aware of it yet.

 

People do not want to have to spend anything up to £1,000 twice just because the visa meds have been done by people who might not have had any positive approvals or disapprovals one way or the other.

 

Janice says that she and Dr Goodall, plus the BUPA Hospital in Southampton, have decided to err on the side of caution and to send people away rather than allowing the applicants to risk any money.

 

The phone number for the HOC in Sydney from the UK is 0061 28 666 5777. Sydney is 9 hours ahead of the UK at present if anyone wants to triple check whether the arrangements they have made are OK. The HOC's e-mail arrangements are here:

 

Health Operations Centre

 

The people who run the Panel Doctors Gateway must be close to the Aussies who are responsible for deciding who is OK in the UK and who is not OK any more. Their Home Page is below:

 

About Health Operations Centre (HOC)

 

You are right, Rach. The situation is a complete SNAFU.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Mylady]

Hi all

 

We had our meds yesterday in Manchester.The Docter was brilliant and everything went well.I was very stressed before the meds but I came out feeling very happy.Dr Brendon Smith was very re-assuring and very patient with my boys who can never sit still.All in all he said we are all fit and healthy.We just have to wait and see about the rest.We paid £837 for everything(incl courier) for a family of six.

He did say that in the whole of the North West, Manchester is the only place to be chosen by the AU Government to do the Medicals for Immigration.

 

Ladies: WE HAD TO STRIP DOWN TO OUR UNDIES BUT BE RE-ASSURED THE DR SAID SAID THAT HE VIEWS THE HUMAN BODY AS AN ELECTRICIAN WOULD VIEW ELECTRICAL WIRES :biglaugh:IT IS HIS JOB NOT A FASHION PARADE.

From my point it was not as bad as I thought it would be.

The whole experience was good.It was cheap and we had a bloody good docter,now we wait.

The only negative was the 71.5 miles journey from my house to the surgery.Not an easy trip with 4 bored kids quarrelling and complaining the whole way.

 

Kind Regards

[Guest Baxter17]

Hi all,

 

I can't believe what I'm reading! Because I live in such a remote place I originally had to make a 5 hour round trip to Inverness for my meds but now it's going to be a 10 hour trip to make it to Glasgow!

 

Why when I phoned the embassy 4 days ago and asked about medical examinations was I not told?

 

Sorry, had to let that out!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi all,

 

I can't believe what I'm reading! Because I live in such a remote place I originally had to make a 5 hour round trip to Inverness for my meds but now it's going to be a 10 hour trip to make it to Glasgow!

 

Why when I phoned the embassy 4 days ago and asked about medical examinations was I not told?

 

Sorry, had to let that out!

 

Hi Baxter

 

Nobody in the UK seems to know the reason for the changes.

 

However are you sure about Glasgow? Others on this thread live in Scotland. They say that they have been told that although Edinbugh can continue to do visa meds, x-rays and blood tests, the Scottish members seem to think that Glasgow are no longer authorised to do anything?

 

I phoned Janice in Southampton because Dy Goodall is the nearest Panel Doctor to me geographically. Janice's knowledge is recorded above and amounts to "very little." She has been in touch with her nearest alternatives but that is all.

 

I have asked David Wilden in London - DIAC's Regional Director for Europe - to explan what is happening and why but I have not heard back from him. According to him, DIAC "always" reply because they "always do" so I am waiting.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Baxter17]

Hi Baxter

 

Nobody in the UK seems to know the reason for the changes.

 

However are you sure about Glasgow? Others on this thread live in Scotland. They say that they have been told that although Edinbugh can continue to do visa meds, x-rays and blood tests, the Scottish members seem to think that Glasgow are no longer authorised to do anything?

 

I phoned Janice in Southampton because Dy Goodall is the nearest Panel Doctor to me geographically. Janice's knowledge is recorded above and amounts to "very little." She has been in touch with her nearest alternatives but that is all.

 

I have asked David Wilden in London - DIAC's Regional Director for Europe - to explan what is happening and why but I have not heard back from him. According to him, DIAC "always" reply because they "always do" so I am waiting.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

Hi Gill,

 

Yeah you are right, it is only Edinburgh that are still doing them. Spire Murrayfield for the radiology and Morningside medical centre for the medical examination.

 

Same distance to travel unfortunately! Lucky i read this post so I can plan ahead and make appointments in advance

 

Thanks

 

Baxter

[_shel]

I got in just in time to get an appointment with the panel doc in Liverpool, which I can walk to from my house! I had to go for a Hep B test having told my CO I'm expecting.

 

The receptionist has just told me that as from the 19th Jan they will no longer be doing medicals. All medicals and xrays for the north west UK, including Liverpool & Peston will be centralised in one Manchester office.

 

Seems we'll be trecking to Manchester to get babs medical next year then as I'll have my visa by then and will need to get one for babs.

[Guest Jamie Smith]

I think DIAC would have wanted this "efficiency" for a while, as they would agree that multiple handling of applications and different info management systems are grossly inefficient. Now that they have the budget for it, they addressed the issue of how to apply the new system.

 

And that's where it breaks down for everyone as DIAC are useless at considering how change affects the people known as applicants.

 

DIAC would have realised that the changes would make a great inconvenience for applicants, but now someone higher up said "well we need to simplify our case management of health records, and besides, who cares, we have more applicants than we need anyway, so roll it out".

 

The case officers will now be happy and eventually applicants will be too, or so DIAC will be thinking.

 

On the other side of things, a migration medical has to be money for jam for a medical practice, with the operating efficiency of a family of 3 to 5 people having to sit through a battery of standard tests (that might be part subsidised by UK Govt?) - charging a full fee for each person. Rolling out a series of tests off a checklist for 3-5 people is much more efficient than having to administer records for 50-60 different patients per day.

 

As some hospitals and bigger clinics have been refused to be let on the new list, I can only speculate that they don't have the necessary IT layer on their medical recording systems, such that they cannot send information in a compatible form to DIAC (whose well over budget IT Department probably specified state of the art new IT health management reporting systems - because they could - rather than buying something in common use that more clinics and hospitals could work with).

 

The doctors and clinics cut off the list probably haven't invested their migrant medical fees back into the necessary systems to meet DIAC's new needs.

 

A few larger clinics and hospitals might soon see this as a new business opportunity and acquire the necessary systems to gain DIAC accreditation, however long that might take.

 

The failure as I see it is DIAC's, again, in not informing agents and the market of the pending changes far ahead in time. Whatever DIAC did in this regard has not been enough. Again.

 

The outcome as usual is many doctors would not have been paying too much attention to DIAC's notices of change and I'm not surprised their staff weren't kept up to speed as few doctors would remember to keep staff informed of these things.

 

DIAC manage everything inside an opaque shell not connected to the wider world.

 

This is an example of a clear need for transparency and simplicity/consistency in a part of the immigration process now being met, but the introduction of the new system has as usual been grossly mismanaged by DIAC managers who fail to consider migration applicants as customers / real people.

 

Mr Wilden, please pass THIS comment on to your colleagues.

 

With regular and abrupt visa changes, retroactive effects (regardless of Ministerial denials) and suddenly increased difficulties in meeting application criteria (like medicals), DIAC are now well engaged in the process of destroying the most compatible and long standing supply of labour and skills that Australia has ever had... at a time when more Australians are now leaving the workforce than joining it.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Jamie

 

Thanks very much for your post above. I would also like to echo these words (your words) to David Wilden:

 

Mr Wilden, please pass THIS comment on to your colleagues.

 

With regular and abrupt visa changes, retroactive effects (regardless of Ministerial denials) and suddenly increased difficulties in meeting application criteria (like medicals), DIAC are now well engaged in the process of destroying the most compatible and long standing supply of labour and skills that Australia has ever had... at a time when more Australians are now leaving the workforce than joining it.

 

Running through the rest of your post, I comment as follows:

 

I think DIAC would have wanted this "efficiency" for a while, as they would agree that multiple handling of applications and different info management systems are grossly inefficient. Now that they have the budget for it, they addressed the issue of how to apply the new system.

 

According to the ANAO Report in 2006/7, DIAC need one computer system for medicals and that system must be compatible with the ICSE Database. It is too laborious to have visa meds which do not make it onto the ICSE system automatically and swiftly, I agree.

 

As some hospitals and bigger clinics have been refused to be let on the new list, I can only speculate that they don't have the necessary IT layer on their medical recording systems, such that they cannot send information in a compatible form to DIAC (whose well over budget IT Department probably specified state of the art new IT health management reporting systems - because they could - rather than buying something in common use that more clinics and hospitals could work with).

 

Mmmm. I'm not sure. Some of the clinics in the UK (eg Dr Helen Bryden in Glasgow) are marked with the "eHealth" logo on the UK Panel Doctors list so presumably Dr Bryden and others have spent money on whatever DIAC's IT guys said would be suitable but that money has now gone down the drain because several of the clinics marked "eHealth" have been told that they are not to remain on the UK List. Some of the ones which have stayed on the UK List don't seem to be geared up for eHealth anyway.

 

From what Dr Goodall's Dragon Janice said and from what people have said on this thread, DIAC seem to have decided on purely geographical changes in the UK, to reduce the number of UK doctors, blood test labs and x-ray clinics.

 

The doctors and clinics cut off the list probably haven't invested their migrant medical fees back into the necessary systems to meet DIAC's new needs.

 

Janice was definite that DIAC have not - at any stage - mentioned IT needs. First the doctor-auditor came to the UK and said that the arrangements in Southampton were satisfactory. The next thing was that Southampton were suddenly removed from the UK List despite the "satisfactory" arrangements and despite the fact that Dr Goodall was the nearest and most convenient Panel Doctor for visa applicants living on the Isle of Wight.

 

A few larger clinics and hospitals might soon see this as a new business opportunity and acquire the necessary systems to gain DIAC accreditation, however long that might take.

 

If any of them make enough money out of DIAC-approved activities, they might. There are other initiatives closer to home which would generate more money and wouldn't involve putting up with DIAC's caprices, however. Besides which DIAC's new convenience seems to be based on fewer medical professionals and the locations of the relevant professionals. None of them will move to different towns for DIAC's sake and none of them will do it when another group of medical pros 30 miles away already have DIAC approval sewn up, I suspect.

 

The outcome as usual is many doctors would not have been paying too much attention to DIAC's notices of change and I'm not surprised their staff weren't kept up to speed as few doctors would remember to keep staff informed of these things.

 

Most doctors wouldn't remember what day of the week it is without their Practice Managers and I suspect that DIAC's e-mails have been going to these Dragons although the doctors decide what to do. I've met Dr Goodall and Janice a couple of times. They couldn't exist without one another. He does the doctoring but she does everything else for him.

 

The Panel Doctor's Instructions say that the Panel Doctor must inform [Australia House in London] immediately if it comes to light that the visa applicant/patient has been "shopping around" between Panel Doctors. Many of the Cat 5s, 6s and 7s were tokd to get their visa meds done ages ago by their RMAs because in the scheme of things prior to the Minister's first changes on 17th December 2008, it appeared to the RMAs that the applicant's CO would soon demand the meds.

 

These people will have to re-do their meds and the British applicants will be forced to shop around the next time because the first group of medical pros will have been shut down by DIAC. If the nearest Panel Doctors etc have a large waiting list and/or have become too expensive, tbeir shopping around could indeed include a trip to Prague as someone has said on this thread.....

 

What about all the people who have been told to get extra reports for themselves or their children and to give those reports to the original Panel Doctor for onward transmission to Sydney? Even if DIAC say magnanimously that those PDs will be given a "Papal Dispensation" to finish the job off, many of the PDs are so angry that they might well tell both DIAC and the patients to stuff it as far as further involvement by the doctor is concerned. What then?

 

The Health COs might be happy with the changes but the ASPC COs sure as hell won't be. When they tell people, "Get your meds done within 28 days" they will be told, "Here is the receipt to prove that I've booked them. For a date in 3 or 4 months time because DIAC have cunningly arranged so few Panel Doctors etc in the UK that they all have huge waiting lists. The delay is not my fault, Guv. It is the fault of your own employers so you sort it out with them if you are not happy about the delay." In what way will this get CSL applicants to Australia quickly? The Minister has scored an Own Goal with this, I suspect.

 

The failure as I see it is DIAC's, again, in not informing agents and the market of the pending changes far ahead in time. Whatever DIAC did in this regard has not been enough. Again.

The doctors and x-ray clinics in the UK were not told in sufficient time either. This is a very recent change for absolutely everyone.

 

Where RMAs were able to send their clients the links to the nearest Panel Doctor etc, tbese RMAs will have to spend money and time finding out who has the shortest waiting lists and which Panel Doctors etc can still do the meds. The client depends on the RMA so on the RMA's head be it if s/he gives the wrong advice about the meds etc. I think the RMAs will have to check with the Health Section in Oz in order to lay this risk off. Which won't please the Health Section or the ASPC COs but stuff them both because it was not the medical professionals, the RMA or the clients who caused the hassle. If I were an RMA I would show DIAC the error of their ways over this!

 

DIAC manage everything inside an opaque shell not connected to the wider world.

 

This is an example of a clear need for transparency and simplicity/consistency in a part of the immigration process now being met, but the introduction of the new system has as usual been grossly mismanaged by DIAC managers who fail to consider migration applicants as customers / real people.

Exactly and they don't treat medical professionals as real people either, or RMAs.

 

DIAC would have realised that the changes would make a great inconvenience for applicants, but now someone higher up said "well we need to simplify our case management of health records, and besides, who cares, we have more applicants than we need anyway, so roll it out".

 

You are absolutely right and the present applicants will put up with it because they have already invested so much in Australia. The next generation of applicants won't put up with it, tnough. They will look to more civilised countries like NZ and Canada instead. The Australian Minister for Immi will have to live with the choices made by Britons in future years, methinks.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[wrussell]

Yesterday upon the stair, I saw a man who wasn't there.

He wasn't there again today. Gee! I wish he'd go away!

[Guest Jamie Smith]

Yesterday upon the stair, I saw a man who wasn't there.

He wasn't there again today. Gee! I wish he'd go away!

 

Hmmm, you must have a leak in the laughing gas tank Westly.

[Guest rachbarlow]

I don't know anymore. I think that the whole system is a farse. I am all for improvments and efficiency and things running smooth, but to date it seems to me that EVERYTHING that the DIAC has done has greatly lacked in all these areas.

 

If I was in the DIAC management I would not be treating people this way. In my opinion they should have formally announced this months in advance via e-mails to applicants/and or their agents, and on their website, giving people time to know about the change and look for alternatives. Informing the centres as well PROPERLY, with a 'what to do next strategy and where to go', would have worked alot better and smoother. As it is like normal no-one knows what the hell is going on.............................

 

If the DIAC followed this simple procedure on every change they made I am sure people would not be as peed as they are now, and react in the way we do. I know the sept change, and this medical change we would not be happy with the change anyway, but give people time it would not have the same diabolical impact.

 

I think they like making us jump through hoops. I know my meds are prob some way off, heh my 6-8 week WA SS is now into week 24, so there is no hope of meds yet, again really orgainsed, but now my OH will have to take a day off work, kids out of school travel to Manchester, when the last centre was 20 mins down the motorway for us. Heh maybe we could make a day of it and get some therepy in shopping??!!

[rammygirl]

So Manchester is the only center for the NW? Well it was our nearest so at least I won't have travel issues but the waiting list will be enormous! Just hope that as long as you can prove you have an appointment then DIAC will wait.

 

I haven't been to the clinic for a few years but as I remember it isn't exactly large or state of the art just a few rooms in a largish Victorian terrace in the center of Manchester. They did do everything in the one place though.

 

Anybody been recently?

[Mylady]

Hi Rammygirl

I had my meds there on Wednesday,it still is the way you descibe it.Surprising thing was I called on Monday11/01 and got an appointment for wednesday 13/01.Check my previous post on this thread for my meds experience.

 

 

Goodluck

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Rammygirl

 

the waiting list will be enormous!

 

Exactly and the doctors, x-ray people etc might all choose to raise their fees stratospherically once there is little or no competition nearby.

 

Just hope that as long as you can prove you have an appointment then DIAC will wait.

 

 

I've saved the current UK and Irish Lists onto a USB stick. If DIAC get nasty in the future, I have the evidence to prove to the Courts in Australia that there was plenty of choice at the end of 2009 and the only reason for the reduction in choice - and hence the wait - is DIAC's own doing.

 

One of the British applicants would undoubtedly sue the Minister for Immi in the Federal Magistrates Court in Oz if DIAC try to be clever about the inevitable delays, the Court would be very sympathetic to the visa applicant and I don't think DIAC are stupid enough to risk litigation caused by delays imposed by themselves.

 

I think the it is likely that the inevitable delays will result in DIAC discovering that people like the much-needed British Nurses cannot get out to Australia quickly because it may well take 3 months or more for them to get medical appointments in the UK. That would be a complete Own Goal for DIAC and the Minister but it would serve both of them right in my view.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Rach

 

If I was in the DIAC management I would not be treating people this way. In my opinion they should have formally announced this months in advance via e-mails to applicants/and or their agents, and on their website, giving people time to know about the change and look for alternatives. Informing the centres as well PROPERLY, with a 'what to do next strategy and where to go', would have worked alot better and smoother. As it is like normal no-one knows what the hell is going on.............................

 

If the DIAC followed this simple procedure on every change they made I am sure people would not be as peed as they are now, and react in the way we do. I know the sept change, and this medical change we would not be happy with the change anyway, but give people time it would not have the same diabolical impact.

 

 

Exactly. The British do not take kindly to having a bunch of Aussies imagining that the British are so stupid that there is no need to consult them about any changes and no need to explain changes to them either. Australia is very much the "younger brother" in the UK's historical relationship with Australia and I think the Aussies would do well to remember that fact. British people are not known for limitless patience and stoicism. The NZ and Canadian Governments treat British applicants properly and I don't think the British will stand for Australia treating them like cattle instead, frankly.

 

I don't think the Minister/DIAC realise how close to breaking point many of the British applicants are. By destroying the trust in the relationship - which works two ways, not just one way - I think Jamie Smith has hit the nail on the head with his comment below:

 

Mr Wilden, please pass THIS comment on to your colleagues.

 

With regular and abrupt visa changes, retroactive effects (regardless of Ministerial denials) and suddenly increased difficulties in meeting application criteria (like medicals), DIAC are now well engaged in the process of destroying the most compatible and long standing supply of labour and skills that Australia has ever had... at a time when more Australians are now leaving the workforce than joining it.

It seems utterly foolhardy to me for the Aussies to go around looking for ways to annoy British applicants more than they already have so the Minister may well find himself having to live with fewer British applicants in years to come. He built the hearse so he can travel in it as far as I am concerned.....

 

I think they like making us jump through hoops. I know my meds are prob some way off, heh my 6-8 week WA SS is now into week 24, so there is no hope of meds yet, again really orgainsed, but now my OH will have to take a day off work, kids out of school travel to Manchester, when the last centre was 20 mins down the motorway for us.

 

Temporarily the Minister thinks he can crack the whip because there are far more applicants than there are visas so right now he can ride high. However this imbalance will not exist in years to come and he would do well to remember that in my view.

 

At the meeting in London in November, David Wilden came out with some interesting statements. I mentioned that large numbers of forum members seem to be British tradesmen and/or their wives. Is this recent or has Britain always supplied lots of tradies to Australia, I asked?

 

David Wilden said that the UK and Ireland have always supplied huge numbers of tradies to Oz. He said that the Aussies like the common language and the fact that education and the trade apprenticeship systems have been very similar in both countries.

 

I asked him whether the Grand Plan is to stop - or at least greatly reduce - the number of immigrant workers to Australia in future? Mr Wilden's reply was fascinating. He said that the idea of the Baby Bonus in Oz was for the Government to encourage couples in Oz to produce 3 children apiece. The plan was one for Mum, one for Dad and one for the Government, said Mr Wilden (which made me laugh!)

 

Me Wilden said that this Government inspired initiative which led to the Baby Bonus has not worked. Aussie couples have used different parameters in planning their families and apparently it produces less than an average of 3 children per couple.

 

Mr Wilden's view (though I don't know whether it is shared by DIAC and the Minister) is that "Australia will always need migrants" in order to keep replacing an ageing population of workers and to provide Age Pensions etc for the older generation.

 

We then got the usual Government/Ministerial hocus pocus about the present Minister is merely trying to target the mix of immigrants better etc. I've heard that argument till the cows come home and personally I don't believe it is true. I think that the Minister is a trades unions toady - whose money bankrolls the Australian Labor Party - and I think that all his so-called "targetting" is a way of controlling the massive over supply of migrants at present. There are over 145,000 applicants but only 108,100 visas for them seems a much more likely problem to grapple with to me.

 

However much DIAC claims an anti-discriminatory Policy, the truth is that it has always favoured the British amongst skilled workers for the very reasons that Jamie and Mr Wilden have both given. Therefore annoying the British seems both stupid and short sighted to me because the British have far less patience and tolerance than the Indians and Chinese for example.....

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[SHANO7]

Is Plymouth still included on the list ?

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Is Plymouth still included on the list ?

 

Hi Shanoz

 

The only way to find out is to phone all the clinics etc within a reasonable radius of you. The UK List is below but the only value that it still has is to supply the names and phone numbers. Please do NOT rely on it for any other purpose.

 

United Kingdom – Panel Doctors

 

Please let me know what you manage to discover in your area. If everyone in Devon & Cornwall says "no" maybe Bristol or Bath might assist?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[itsmylife]

For now I seem to have found a radiology department that is still doing xrays in Northern Ireland, Antrim Hospital, this is an hour away from me, so not bad, but the secretary that I was talking to was keen to stress that they are still doing them "for now", that the consultant has not had any letters to say that he should stop doing them, so "will continue with them until he is told to stop", suggesting that they are under the impression that they will also be removed from the list. They are going to phone me back this afternoon with more details when the lady who deals with this is back in the office. DH is off on Monday, so I am really hopeful that we can get the xrays slotted in then, then I can look at booking the medicals.