Dr Mackie participates in on-call rosters for the hospitals of Hobart, providing phone call advice, admission to hospital or follow-up of patients presenting with emergency orthopaedic conditions. A single roster providing cover for all 3 hospitals (and effectively the whole of Southern Tasmania) was in effect until 2012. There is now a roster specifically for the Royal Hobart Hospital orthopaedic services but Calvary Hospital also provides an orthopaedic on-call roster to its emergency department staff. The surgeons who work in both hospitals provide concurrent roster support.
Dr Mackie is one of the few orthopaedic surgeons in Hobart working at all hospitals and able to provide on-call cover to all.
Patients may elect to be referred by their general practitioner or emergency department staff to a surgeon of their choice (if they have private health insurance cover appropriate to their emergency condition) regardless of rosters. If the surgeon of choice is unavailable or unable to provide urgent assessment then referral to the on-call surgeon may be more appropriate.
Dr Mackie appropriately triages all referrals (an assessment process to determine the timeframe in which a condition should be seen) and attempts to see all referred emergency conditions within the appropriate timeframe. This may involve ensuring that a referring general practitioner or emergency department doctor provides the necessary first-aid treatment or appropriate referrals for medical imaging / casts / splints etc. Dr Mackie may then elect to see patients with conditions for which they have commenced treatment at the 1 or 2 week time point to ensure there are no further issues.
Patients who require admission directly to hospital from the emergency department will usually be seen by Dr Mackie on the day of admission or the next morning. Many orthopaedic trauma conditions may not require surgery for a couple of days (and some may require specific equipment to be ordered and delivered from interstate). Conditions that require urgent surgery may be treated at the end of one of Dr Mackie’s elective operating lists or during a dedicated emergency operating theatre timeslot.
