News

We had a lovely dinner to celebrate Dr Sharon Woolf’s retirement from the partnership of Glen Iris Medical Group recently.

Sharon started the practice in 1981 as a solo GP and has left the partnership with a healthy and vibrant practice of 12 Doctors, 3 nurses and 12 reception and admin staff.

Move over acai bowls and matcha lattes… there is a new ‘super’ ingredient in town and if you believe the marketing, it would seem just about anything can be fixed with turmeric!

Turmeric is a widely available spice that comes from the Turmeric plant, part of the ginger family. It has a warm, bitter taste and a deep mustardy-yellow colour. The turmeric ‘bulb’ itself can be eaten, but it is usually dried and ground into powder. It is used in a lot of traditional Indian and Asian cuisine and especially in curries. Turmeric contains a chemical ingredient called curcumin that gives it its colour. Curcumin is often used as a colourant in food and cosmetics.

Dear Patients,

Due to the increasing costs of running a General Practice and the continued freeze on Medicare rebates, we are

increasing our fees effective 1st September, 2018. This decision has not been taken lightly and fee increases have been kept to a minimum.

by Dr Jenny Alexander

Having unprotected sex can put you at risk of sexually transmitted infections, or STIs.

Among those at high risk of STIs are young people, men who have sex with men, and middle-aged people who have started dating again after separation or divorce.

The more casual partners you have, the greater your risk. And if your partner has had casual, unprotected sex with other partners, or has had sex with someone who uses intravenous drugs, your risk will be increased. Having unprotected sex while travelling in some overseas countries will also increase your risk.
To decrease your risk of STIs, protect yourself by always using condoms.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) aims to provide reasonable and necessary support for all Australians aged 65 years and under who have permanent and significant disabilities. It has been rolling out progressively across Australia since 2016. Once the scheme has been fully deployed, it is estimated that over 460,000 Australians will be supported by the NDIS.

There are many tools and practices that can be used to help people with cope with stress, anxiety, depression and grief. Mindfulness is one of these techniques and it has been used extensively in psychological practice for many decades.

Mindfulness is about learning how to be ‘present’ in the moment, being aware of your emotions, physical sensations and thoughts in real time, without judgement. It is about recognising and accepting what you are feeling without downplaying, excusing or rationalising those feelings. It is a skill that can take some time to develop but can be very helpful in alleviating stress dealing with grief, overcoming compulsive behaviours and improving self-awareness.

Mindfulness techniques teach us how to de-clutter our mind and how to thoughtfully ‘respond’ rather than ‘react’ to stressful situations.

Glen Iris Medical Group will be closed Monday 11th June

due to the Queen’s Birthday Holiday.

Glen Iris Medical Group currently has a reasonable supply of private Flu vaccines and very few government supplies. We will be unable to order more private flu vaccine in the foreseeable future. Please call on 03 9509 7633 to make an appointment.

Influenza (or the ‘flu’) is a viral infection that is transmitted person to person via airborne ‘droplets’, tiny particles of fluid that are expelled into the air, or onto a surface when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

It affects the respiratory tract, the nose, throat and lungs. It is highly contagious and is attributed to around 3000 deaths in Australia per year. Some flu seasons, like that we experienced in 2017 are worse than other years. This can be attributed to the strains of flu virus that are most prevalent in the community and changes or ‘mutations’ in these virus strains. Viruses are constantly changing, in an attempt to subvert the immune system. Strains of virus that are more successful at this, become dominant and spread. Annual flu vaccines contain three or four of the most prevalent strains for that particular flu season and provide excellent protection against infection but they cannot provide immunity against all strains, or strains that have mutated.

In a highly anticipated announcement, the Minister for Health the Hon. Greg Hunt confirmed recently the My Health Record (MHR) opt-out three-month window will commence from 16 July to 15 October 2018. Every Australian will be offered a MHR unless they choose to opt-out during this period.

Follow this link to read more: myhealthrecordwebsitecopy

During the week April 29th to May 6th 2018, the National Heart Foundation celebrates Heart Week. This year they are promoting the benefits of physical activity on heart health.

Please call reception on 9509 7633 to book an appointment

Friday 27th April 1.30-3.00pm
Saturday 28th April 10.30-12.30pm
Tuesday 1st May 5.30-7.30pm
Wednesday 2nd May 1.30-3.00pm
Thursday 3rd May 5.30-7.30pm
Saturday 5th May 10.30-12.30pm Tuesday 8th May 5.30-7.30pm Thursday 10th May 5.30-7.30pm Friday 11th May 2.00-4.00pm Saturday 19th May 10.30-12.30pm

ARE YOU GETTING THE CORRECT VACCINE?

By Dr Jane Healy

There are two new vaccines that many parents and adults may have recently heard about.

They are Bexsero and Menactra.

Listeriosis is a type of food poisoning caused by consumption of food that has been contaminated by Listeria bacteria. It is thought to cause around 150 hospitalisations and 15 deaths in Australia every year.

In recent weeks, an outbreak of Listeriosis linked to rockmelons grown in the Riverina area of New South Wales has resulted in two deaths in Victoria and two deaths in New South Wales, plus around 18 hospitalisations in the Eastern states. The contaminated melons were withdrawn from shops and news outlets were prompt to warn people not to eat product they may have at home.

Vaccinations for the 2018 influenza (flu) season will shortly be delivered to medical centres and pharmacies across Australia. There are a number of important changes this year, implemented in response to the particularly severe flu season experienced last year.

Why should I get vaccinated against influenza?

Influenza affects people of all ages and states of health.
Vaccination not only provides protection for yourself but reduces the risk that the people you come into contact with will be infected.

Oral contraceptive medication commonly referred to as the ‘Pill” works to prevent pregnancy by supplying the body with hormones that make an egg unsuitable for fertilisation. It is generally considered a very safe drug and its short term and long term use has been extensively studied.

There are a range of potential side effects linked to use of the Pill. Commonly reported side effects include breakthrough bleeding, increased blood pressure, nausea, weight gain, breast tenderness, vaginal infections (such as thrush) and headaches. These are mostly mild and transient symptoms, more common in the first few months of Pill usage.

Many people use after-hours doctor services when their usual doctor is closed. After hours doctors provide medical care either in your home or in special after-hours deputising clinics across Victoria.

They provide care strictly after hours meaning evenings, weekends and public holidays. They are not open during normal business hours when patients can access their own GP.

Effective from February 1st 2018, the Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA) have ruled that all medications containing codeine will no longer be available without a prescription. This includes medicines that contain codeine in combination with other analgesics such as Panadeine, Nurofen Plus and Mersyndol as well as various generic pharmacy brands of pain relief and/or cough and cold medication.

Why have these changes occurred?

The Practice will be open from 8.30 – 12.30pm

From the 1st of December this year, significant and important changes have been made to the cervical cancer screening program.

Until now, sexually active women between the ages of 18-69 years were screened on a two yearly basis with a Pap smear test. The new program replaces the smear with a five yearly Cervical Screening Test (CST) for women between the ages of 25-74 years. Extensive studies have shown that cervical cancer is incredibly rare in women under 25 and screening women under this age (i.e. 18-25) has not reduced the number of cases of cervical cancer or deaths from cervical cancer.

The CST detects the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the cause of 99% of cervical cancers. The traditional Pap test examined cervical cells looking for abnormalities that could lead to cancer. The CST looks for HPV, which is the cause of those cellular abnormalities.

The test procedure is the same. Your Doctor will still use a vaginal speculum to take a cell sample from your cervix, however, the sample is suspended in liquid rather than smeared onto a glass slide like a traditional pap test.

Your first CST will be performed when you are due for your next (or first) pap smear, which is generally two years from your last one. From that point on, the testing becomes five yearly (dependent on results of course).