THE LEUKAEMIA DIDN'T KILL HIM BUT THE SPECIALIST WAITING LISTS COULD HAVE!

Why one South Morang survivor is now taking on the health system to stop people dying while waiting. 

South Morang local, Darren Lemin, thought that his diagnosis of leukaemia was the worst news he could hear . . . that was until he was told he may need to wait months to see a specialist.

Fortunately Darren was 'in the know' about specialists and how to get to them quickly because without this insider knowledge, he would have died within weeks had his condition gone undiagnosed and untreated.

However, after successfully beating the disease, he vowed to make a difference to others that are waiting lengthy time frames for healthcare services.

"There are people in similar situations to mine, who are literally dying, simply because they are made to wait for an appointment with a specialist," explains Darren Lemin, Co-Founder of the ground breaking new service, daftdoggy.com.

"The healthcare system is buckling under the pressure and patients are now waiting, on average, 3 months for an initial appointment," Darren explains. "I would have died, if I'd had to wait that long for treatment." 

According to a report released by the Expert Panel on Waiting List Management in Victoria:

• · Almost 80,000 patients were waiting for an initial specialist clinic appointment
• · The median wait time across all health services and specialities was 114 days
• · The health system is "chaotic" and "no one knew what was going on"
• · An audit by The Age in 2011 found 79,000 people were waiting for their first doctors' appointment and about 55,000      Victorians were on the elective surgery wait list

"This kind of wait to have a serious (or even just an irritating) medical condition, go untreated just didn't sit well with me. There are many leading Specialists available, and often the ones with really long waiting lists are being referred to," explained Darren.

With his understanding of how the health system operates, Mr Lemin knew there had to be a better way to connect patients with Australia's leading healthcare specialists and thus avoid the wait, but grew tired of waiting for the various health ministers to implement a workable system.

"Patients don't have to wait to get help. This is why we have developed daftdoggy.com - a place where General Practitioners and patients and  can link directly with specialists who are ready, willing and more than able to provide excellent quality healthcare in the shortest time frame possible."  This is our difference we make to others.

For further information on how you can avoid the 3 month waiting list and connect with healthcare specialists faster, contact INAS - phone 1300 366 892