Infuse in Australia

[mali42]

Hi All

I am planning a trip to Australia next year and want to go for 4 weeks but I infuse every 3 weeks so my question is has anyone done something similar and could they do my infusions in one of there hospitals and give me the same product ?

I am going to ask at my next clinic but it would be nice to know if someone has been through this.

Thank you

Malcolm

[s162216]

Jun 27, 2014 19:33:12 GMT mali42 said:

Hi All

I am planning a trip to Australia next year and want to go for 4 weeks but I infuse every 3 weeks so my question is has anyone done something similar and could they do my infusions in one of there hospitals and give me the same product ?

I am going to ask at my next clinic but it would be nice to know if someone has been through this.

Thank you

Malcolm

Hi Malcom,

One option might be for them to give you some extra before you go to cover the fourth week, although that is just speculation as I don't know if they would actually do it.

There is a reciprocal healthcare agreement between the UK and Australia, so your immunologist may be able to arrange with a collogue in Australia for you to have the infusion. In theory the bill gets sent back to the UK to be paid by the NHS, but there are so many rules and regulations about what can and can't be covered by the agreement so that may or may not be an option. Its likely that you will need to arrange for travel insurance to cover the cost of the infusion (which will likely be a good AU$1000).

Sam.

[john]

Hi Malcolm,
I know you infuse intravenously at home...you could give yourself extra just before you leave, assuming your docs agree, or you do have time to learn sub cut before you go and take a few weeks of that with you, just in case!
It's unusual for us to get sick when away in hot dry countries, but you have to err on the safe side and assume you will!
Insurance is a problem for pre existing conditions, but you should have it, you never know if you have problems other than health problems.
Exciting stuff eh? You must be feeling a lot better these days, nice to hear from you and tell us what your docs advice is.
Send my best wishes to Pat
John

[mali42]

Thanks Sam and John for the replies.

I will have to be patient and wait for my immunologist to advice me, I don't fancy doing sub-cut and i don't want to think about infusing while I'm away if I can help it, I like the idea of doing extra ivig and hopefully that will be the solution and my levels are always consistent so that should help.

I will look into travel insurance nearer the time and i don't think it will be a problem just how much they might charge, I used my bank a few years ago so might do that again.

John, Pat says hi back and I hope you and sue are keeping well.

Malcolm

[bampo]

Hi all

I'm brand new to the forum. I'm Australian and thought I could share the Aussie perspective if it will help.

We have 3 easily accessible approved IG products in Australia: Intragam (Australian), Octagam and Kiovig. If you use a different product and want to infuse here, look into bringing it with you in your carry-on baggage, but you'd need to check your product's temperature/storage requirements. Plus you'd need to check the Australian customs arrangements for bringing it into the country.

I don't know what equipment you need for self-infusing, as we don't have that option here. If it's not transportable and you'd need to go to a hospital for an infusion, it should be easy enough to arrange, because that's what we all do! There is definitely a reciprocal NHS / Medicare arrangement, Aussies are told that we can get health care in the UK at the same cost as we would in Australia, so I assume it works exactly the same way for you but you'd want to confirm that with the NHS.

Good luck with sorting it all out, and I hope you have a great trip Down Under!

[s162216]

Jul 14, 2014 9:25:32 GMT bampo said:

Hi all

I'm brand new to the forum. I'm Australian and thought I could share the Aussie perspective if it will help.

We have 3 easily accessible approved IG products in Australia: Intragam (Australian), Octagam and Kiovig. If you use a different product and want to infuse here, look into bringing it with you in your carry-on baggage, but you'd need to check your product's temperature/storage requirements. Plus you'd need to check the Australian customs arrangements for bringing it into the country.

I don't know what equipment you need for self-infusing, as we don't have that option here. If it's not transportable and you'd need to go to a hospital for an infusion, it should be easy enough to arrange, because that's what we all do! There is definitely a reciprocal NHS / Medicare arrangement, Aussies are told that we can get health care in the UK at the same cost as we would in Australia, so I assume it works exactly the same way for you but you'd want to confirm that with the NHS.

Good luck with sorting it all out, and I hope you have a great trip Down Under!

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I looked at doing a PhD which had a year in Australia at Monash University, and looking into the various rules around the reciprocal healthcare agreement sadly the rules aren't as black and white (at least when going to Australia!) as they may seem.

The actual agreement lets both countries decide the rules individually of what will/will not be covered: the UK lets very nearly everything be covered - including pre-existing conditions - but sadly Australia doesn't allow for any pre-existing conditions to be covered (although for some reason you can get kidney dialysis under the agreement), and only allows emergency care. Upon making inquiries I discovered that to do the year in Australia I would be forced to fund the IVIG for a year myself (which would have probably come to at least £15,000). Ultimately I didn't get the on the PhD though anyway when I applied; I then found out that at my old infusion clinic they actually had a couple of Australian post-doc's from the university across the road, who didn't have to pay anything as the NHS could simply send the bill back to Australia. It would be nice if the agreement worked both ways, but things are never that simple!

It is one of my life long goals to go to Australia one day though, I actually have a whole branch of family over there who I've never met. My Grandma's sister moved over there with her then husband in 1978 for his job, and has never come back! It would be good to see all of those "distant" relatives who I've never seen...

Sam.

[mali42]

Hi Bampo

I use kiovig so that would not be a problem, from what Sam says it might be better to go for 3 weeks with a top up just before before I go.

Its a shame though as its a strong possibility my son will stay out there but you never know things might change over the next few year, fingers crossed

I will still ask my immunologist and see what she says next month.

Thank you all for your replies.

Malcolm.

[mali42]

I saw my immunologist and I have 2 choices, Do an infusion just before I go and do another soon as I get back or take it with me and do an infusion myself but I might have to have the stuff sent because of them being funny about me bringing blood products into the country.

They all seem to think its not a problem at all so that makes me feel better.

Thanks for all your replies

Malcolm

[glowing]

Fingers crossed it all works out okay for you Malcolm. It's great to have something that special to look forward to.

Glo