$3m in additional funding for PATS

The State Government’s PATS scheme is designed to provide a subsidy to regional South Australians who have to travel more than 100kms to access specialist medical services.

People in the Limestone Coast are major users of the scheme, with more than 70 per cent of all claims arising from the region during the last financial year.

Since being elected, Troy has been concerned the scheme is not servicing the needs of regional South Australians and has strongly pushed for a review.

In 2014, following the Filby review, the State Government allocated $3million in extra funding to the scheme.

However, Troy's work continues on this issue.

In February 2019, Troy organised a community forum to discuss concerns raised by local residents about PATS, including the right to choose your own specialist and much-needed updates to fuel and accommodation subsidies.

The forum was attended by over 100 Limestone Coast residents and South Australia's top PATS experts.

In 2023 the State Government announced the first major increase to the PATS scheme, doubling the fuel subsidy from 16c/km to 32c/km.

Troy is continuing to work with the State Government to advocate for further changes to this scheme, in particular an increase to the current accomodation subsidy, which has remained unchanged.