St Vincent’s Open Support Country Care Link

Free Transport from Central and Mascot for Regional Patients

If you travel more than 100 kilometres for medical treatment at St Vincent’s you qualify for transport support from St Vincent’s Open Support Country Care Link.

We have a lot of regional patients in our practice who travel hundreds of kilometres for medical appointments and treatment. Most of these patients already know about the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme (IPTAAS) but many may not know about St Vincent’s Open Support Country Care Link.

Shuttle service from Central and Mascot to St Vincent’s

St Vincent’s Open Support Country Care Link is a personalised shuttle or taxi service which arranges volunteer drivers to meet patients arriving in Sydney at Central railway station, Central bus terminal, or Mascot airport. Patients and their travel companions are then driven to their treatment or accommodation. The service is not means tested.

I love this service because it is all about making sure there is a friendly face to meet patients when they arrive in Sydney. All the volunteer drivers are fully-trained and licensed. When you are ready to return home Country Care Link drivers can also return you to rail, bus or airport terminals, as long as you have booked ahead.

There is a great video explaining Open Support Country Care Link on the St Vincent’s Clinic website which you can find here or you can visit the Open Support website page for more information here.

The super friendly team at Country Care Link also asked me to make sure patients know:

  • the service is not means tested
  • patients need an active mobile phone to liaise with volunteer drivers
  • travel companions are welcome as long as they are included in the original booking
  • to allow a minimum of 48 hours to arrange transport

For all Bookings
Call 02 8382 6434 or 1800 806 160
(Office Hours: Mon-Fri 9.30am-4pm)
Email transport@opensupport.org.au

IPTAAS Tips

The IPTAAS system is reasonably straightforward but there are a couple of spots where patients seem to consistently get stuck. There is a good FAQ section on the IPTAAS website which you can access here but I have a couple of tips of my own:

  • Air travel – if you meet the IPTAAS criteria for fully subsidised air travel (more details here) then make sure you book your flight only after you get IPTAAS approval. Your referring doctor will help you with the paperwork for air travel approval.
  • Referral – Your IPTAAS referral is only valid for 24 months. Head and neck cancer patients typically have a follow up period of five years. This means you will need to ask your
  • General Practitioner (GP) for a new IPTAAS referral at least twice during the treatment follow up period even though you won’t need a new referral to see Richard.
  • Keep hold of your accommodation receipts so they can be submitted with your claim form.
  • Make sure you include the correct travel dates.
  • Lisa and I can sign your claim forms, they don’t need to go to Richard.

Uber and other ride share options

There are a number of ride share programs in Sydney which are often cheaper than taxis. The most well known of these are Uber, Ola, Lyft, Shebah and GoCatch. Most of these services offer fixed price airport transfers which can be booked in advance.

I hope you find these travel tips useful. If you have any more questions about travel or accommodation please check out the Visit section on the Useful Links page of our website. Or, like everything else, you can call and ask me!

Tahnee