Cognitive Dissonance.

The doctor was angry, -very angry. He felt the heat rising in his neck and sweat forming under his front hair line. In front of him was a 53 year-old lady with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and depression, and a female counsellor who said she helped people apply for the NDIS.( the National Disability Insurance Scheme)

He believed the NDIS secured funding for the very ill people to access services they required- such as physiotherapy for a person who had had a crippling stroke or injury, or who had Multiple Sclerosis or Motor Neurone Disease, and to provide much-needed electric wheelchairs or hoists to give such people more independence. Previously there had been no government funding for people under 65.If there injury had been subject to a claim for a Motor vehicle crash or Worker's Compensation the relevant insurance would pay for it, but not if the injury occurred in different circumstances, or the disability was due to a devasting neurological illness.  He was also aware the NDIS scheme was being abused and had overrun its budget by billions of dollars.

The counsellor said she was applying for the lady to be able to have a housekeeper and gardener and pay for visits to a Psychologist. He was irate because he believed the housekeeper and gardener were services the family should fund themselves, and he had been trying to persuade the lady to access a Psychologist for a few years, and this could be done under a different government funding known as the Better Outcomes Scheme. He often saw elderly people who needed a gardener, and he was well aware that this service was not government funded for them either.

For nearly fifty years he had tried to help his patients and he knew which non-government services they could access when they needed it. He was a caring physician and patiently listened to all his patients and tried to help them, and never normally showed anger or irritation. He could hardly believe he had let himself speak so bluntly to this counsellor and felt hot and near to tears.

‘I have not got time for this,’ he stammered and firmly showed the lady and her counsellor towards the door. 'I have a waiting-room full of patients who need my help.' His voice mellowed and he said, ‘If you are willing to see a Psychologist I can arrange that for you.’

When they left the room, he sat down with his head in his hands and took some calming breaths before he could get on with his job and see the next patient. He felt subdued and ashamed, and worked quietly through the rest of the day. He did not believe it was his job to support such frivolous applications and to add to the blow-out of the NDIS budget. The whole community was angry to hear that a paedophile had been released from gaol and had secured $50,000 in NDIS funding. This encounter with the counsellor had tipped a gentle doctor 'over the edge' and let his anger surface.