CLICK HERE to see the letter from our Managing Principal, Dr Peter Lovass, or view the content below.

18 March 2020

Dear Patients

At the time of writing the number of cases of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) in Victoria are increasing in a concerning manner.  There are major changes being recommended by our health authorities to manage the risk that this condition poses to our population.

 

Recently the government announced a 14-day self-isolating guideline for any international traveller arriving in Australia.  It should be noted that almost all cases are related to international travellers or close contacts of confirmed cases. There is (at this stage at least) very minimal community transmission.

 

Please be assured that we are fully compliant with all state and federal government health directives.  Furthermore, we are undertaking a large range of steps to ensure the safety and well being of our patients, particularly the senior members of our population and those with chronic health issues who appear to be more at risk of complications from this infection.

 

The case definition that leads to possible testing is now strictly one of the following three groups:

 

1. Fever or acute respiratory infection (eg. Shortness of breath or cough) AND

1. Either international travel in the 14 days before the onset of illness OR

1. 1. Close contact in the 14 days before illness onset with a confirmed case of COVID 19.

 

2. Patients with severe pneumonia in intensive care with or without a history of travel.

 

3. Health care workers, residential aged care workers or aged care residents with a fever (more than 37.5) and an acute respiratory illness.

 

These patients are being screened by our receptionists with advice on our website, phone message system and posters and will be directed to attend the Box Hill Hospital testing site for assessment.  Due to the need to protect our senior and vulnerable patients as much as possible as well as a national shortage of personal protective equipment for our doctors, these patients will not be assessed in our clinic.

To reduce the risk to our vulnerable patients, we are offering telephone consultations.

This is a compromise due to the extreme circumstances that we find ourselves in.  Best care will come from face-to-face consultations but in certain circumstances and for select patients, Medicare is allowing a telephone consult in the short term.

Please contact our Reception team for further advice.

We want to thank you sincerely for your trust in us and as a whole Clinic we stand prepared to assist you through these challenging times.

Yours sincerely

 

Dr Peter Lovass

Managing Principal

 

98% of all patient ratings about Blackburn Specialist Centre were good, very good or excellent.

Thank you to the 122 patients at Blackburn Specialist Centre who took the time to complete a patient survey recently.  We will use your feedback to review and improve our general practice.

Did you realise that you are no more out of pocket for a Long Consultation than a Standard Consultation?

Many patients noted that, on occasion, their doctor runs late.  Some patients also commented that they would like more time during their consultation.  This got us thinking about why doctors run late.  Sometimes this happens due to unforeseeable medical emergencies, but more commonly the reasons relate to earlier consultations running overtime—either because insufficient time was booked, or extra family members were squeezed into the appointment rather than having a separate time booked.

We aim to keep the Gap the same for both standard and long consultations.  Medicare rebates are credited to patient accounts within 48 hours of the consultation (often same day), giving you another reason to book the time that you need.

Your doctor doesn’t mind—In fact, we encourage patients to book long consultations if they feel they need to spend longer with their doctor, and especially if they have several issues that they wish to have addressed by the doctor.

Our doctors don’t enjoy running late and they don’t want you to be inconvenienced, so if you need more time please book a longer appointment.  Our online booking system does not yet allow for longer appointments but we are working with our software provider towards a solution for this.  In the meantime, please telephone the clinic in order to book a longer appointment.

This table shows scores by topic area, benchmarked against similar sized general practices in similar metropolitan locations.	BLACKBURN CLINIC (more than 6 full time GPs)		BLACKBURN SPECIALIST CENTRE (2-4 full time GPs)
Domain	Our mean score (%)	Benchmark score (%)	Our mean score (%)	Benchmark score (%)
1– Access and availability	73	70	77	76
2-Provision of information	76	75	81	81
3-Privacy and confidentiality	81	76	85	81
4-Continuity of care	75	74	79	81
5-Communication skills of staff	87	83	91	87
6-Interpersonal skills of clinical staff	89	84	92	88

Things we’d like to score better on:

Seeing doctor of choice—we make no apology for having great doctors!  They are so popular it is no wonder they are often booked up in advance.  We recommend that every patient chooses a “back-up doctor” from the quality group of GPs available at Blackburn Clinic and Blackburn Specialist Centre.  That way you can get to know a second doctor, so that when your first choice isn’t available you can still see someone familiar.  In an ideal world we’d love to always have your favourite GP available, but until cloning becomes commonplace we just can’t achieve this.  Our doctors are a team and they don’t mind sharing!

Telephone access to a doctor—If you phone the clinic requesting to speak to your doctor, you may be asked to leave a number on which you can be contacted. Most doctors return phone calls at the end of their session (either during their lunch break or at the end of the day).  If the matter is urgent, either your doctor, another doctor or the practice nurse will be able to take your call immediately.

Please understand that in many instances, the doctor or nurse will be unable to provide advice over the telephone. Blackburn Clinic is very conscious of the risk of providing incorrect advice over the phone, and wherever possible, patients are encouraged to attend the clinic in person.

Home visits—We note that over half of the 313 patients who completed a survey at Blackburn Clinic left the question about ease of obtaining a home/other visit blank. This means they either didn’t know that our doctors can do home visits, or they had never needed to use the service.  128 out of the 146 who did respond rated this question as Good, Very Good or Excellent (that is 87% of respondents were happy). The situation was similar for Specialist Centre surveys.  On weekdays we do home visits for our patients in the local area if necessary.  For example, if you suspect you have a highly infectious disease (eg. measles) you could ask for a home visit.  Where possible we ask that you ring before 10:00am to arrange home visits. Sometimes demand for this service will exceed our ability to respond and you may be asked whether you would like a locum visit arranged.  Fees will be charged for all home visits.

 

We are pleased to announce our new in-house Respiratory Clinic, offering one-on-one appointments with our qualified Respiratory Educators.  Our new comprehensive Respiratory Clinic is an opportunity for asthma patients to receive targeted, high-quality healthcare to better prepare them in managing their own asthma throughout the year.  Please view our Summer 2018-2019 Newsletter for the full article.

 

BLACKBURN CLINIC is raising money for CEREBRAL PALSY.  Many of our doctors, nurses, administration and reception staff are attempting to walk 10,000 STEPS every day for the month of September. We have 35 staff members participating within 12 teams.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a physical disability that affects movement and posture.  It is a permanent life-long condition, but generally does not worsen over time. It is due to damage to the developing brain either during pregnancy or shortly after birth.  Cerebral palsy affects people in different ways and can affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance.  Did you know, Cerebral Palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood?

Support this worthwhile cause by donating at www.steptember.com.au

Click on DONATE and search for BLACKBURN CLINIC.  Donate to anyone on our list—we don’t mind who!

 

Dr Rob Dunn is cycling 100 km on 7th October 2018 to raise money for cleft repair operations for children in Bangladesh.
More than 5,000 children are born with a cleft lip or cleft palate in Bangladesh each year. Cleft repair surgery is not covered under the Bangladesh health care system, and the cost of surgery out of reach of most Bangladeshi families.
Operation Cleft is a unique Rotary project that provides free cleft repair surgery to underprivileged children in Bangladesh. Operation Cleft began in 2005 as a project of the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central and is still supported by them.
Unfortunately, these children are shunned by society, discouraged to attend school and generally excluded because of the way they look. Children with cleft problems have difficulty feeding as babies and difficulty eating when older, risking malnutrition. They are susceptible to ear, nose and throat infections. Without treatment children develop nasal speech patterns that are difficult to change, so treatment is best done while children are young.
Operation Cleft Australia Foundation depends entirely on community donations to achieve 1,000 operations each year. Operation Cleft also speech therapy programs following cleft repair surgery.
Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible in Australia. To sponsor Dr Dunn’s cycling challenge online go to www.operationcleft.org.au. Donation tins are also available at Blackburn Clinic reception.