Are you having trouble with your feet? Suffering from heel, ankle or lower limbs pain? Like to get your feet checked? Put your pain at ease by visiting Queens Park Medical Centre. We are pleased to welcome Passion Podiatry as our onsite podiatry service provider. Passion Podiatry is managed by the principal podiatrist, Jasmine Lee. She will be working closely with the doctors to provide comprehensive holistic healthcare services to ensure best outcome for your foot health.

Passion Podiatry offers friendly podiatry services for all age group. A podiatrist can assess, advice, diagnose, and recommend treatment and management for your lower limb, foot and ankle problems. Passion Podiatry deals with most aspects of podiatry care. These include

• General foot, ankle and lower limb pain
• General routine foot care and check-up
• Nail problems (ingrown, thickened, fungal toenails)
• Skin problems (plantar warts, cracked heels, corn and callouses)
• High risk foot assessment and management (diabetes, arthritis)
• Children’s foot problems (growing pain, toe walker, intoe gait)
• Sports injuries (ankle sprains, blisters, shin splint)
• Nail surgery
• Acupuncture (traditional Chinese and dry needling)
• Footwear review and recommendation
• Foot orthoses prescription and manufacture (custom and prefabricated)

Passion podiatry offers bulk billings services to patients with doctor’s referral for Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) or Enhance Primary Care Plan (EPC), as well as onsite private health funds rebates for private patients. Besides, other forms of podiatry services such as home visits and after hour podiatry care can also be made available upon request.

Podiatry conditions can lead to extreme discomfort, often causing patients to lose mobility and strength. Many conditions, if left untreated can lead to further problems as well as long-term pain and degeneration. Regular inspection of your feet, early detection and prompt treatment of foot conditions by your podiatrist and attention to the right footwear, go a long way in preventing serious foot complications. So, take the right step and speak to one of our doctors or our podiatrist today to find out how we can best assist you with a podiatry plan to maintain your mobility and foot health.

The Government Funded flu vaccination for both adults and children have now arrived!

This is available free under the National Immunisation Program for the following:

• People aged 65 years and over
• Pregnant women
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are six months to less than five years old
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over
• People aged six months and over with medical conditions such as severe asthma, lung or heart disease, low immunity or diabetes that can lead to complications from influenza

Please call us on 9356 8993 to make an appointment. Alternatively, you can also book on-line.

As a practice our staff endeavour to continue furthering their knowledge through quality improvement and continuing professional development. We would like to congratulate Dr Jessica Bradley for recently achieving fellowship with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Fellowship with the RACGP is a highly regarded qualification, given the extended and rigorous training program, the wide experience & knowledge base, and general commitment required for its attainment. We are proud to say that all doctors at Queens Park Medical Centre have now achieved this title clearly demonstrating our commitment to our patient’s health and well-being.

Influenza Update

The 2016 Influenza season is approaching and we are encouraging our local community to help stop the spread at home, work and school environments. The private trivalent influenza vaccines is now in stock and this is available for $20 incl GST. The quadrivalent strains is scheduled to arrive early April and this will be available for $23 incl GST. The government funded vaccines have not be released for ordering yet and are expected to arrive mid-April, eligibility for the free vaccine remains the same as 2015 criteria. For enquiries or to make an appointment please call reception on 9356 8993.

[fusion_text]***UPDATE***

Our Skin Check Clinics were successfully run throughout January with the doctors completing thorough skin assessments and performing simple biopsies and excisions where clinically indicated.

There is still time to get your skin checked!

If you have noticed any differences in your skin lately or have any concerns regarding skin issues that you want to have looked at, please speak to Reception to make an appointment on 9356 8993.

Below are listed the dates and times of the next Skin Check Clinics in February 2016:

Monday 22^nd of February 1pm – 3pm

Wednesday 24^th of February 9am –11am

Thursday 25^th of February 1pm – 3pm

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With a record 90,000 reported flu cases in Australia in 2015 (25,000 higher than the previous record of 65,000 cases reported in 2014), it is important to be immunised this flu season.

The annual Seasonal Influenza Vaccination program is set to start in early to mid April. Annual influenza vaccination is provided free through the National Immunisation Program to groups who are at an increased risk of influenza complications, including;

• People aged 65 years and over
• Pregnant women
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are six months to less than five years old
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over
• Anyone aged six months and over who has a chronic condition placing them at increased risk of complications from influenza.

Australians not eligible for vaccinations under the National Immunisation Program are able to access seasonal flu vaccinations through Queens Park Medical Centre incurring a private fee.

Watch this space to be advised of any changes to scheduling for release of the 2016 Influenza Vaccination.

References

http://www.immunise.health.gov.au/

https://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2015-ley133.htm

Throughout 2015 the staff at Queens Park Medical Centre have endeavoured to promote the best health outcomes in our patients. We ran three health promotions throughout 2015 and are looking into providing our patients and the wider community with more opportunities like these in 2016!

The ambulatory blood pressure clinic was run throughout the month of March by our Practice Nurse Queenie. The system allowed us to get a 24 hour picture of patients’ blood pressure and heart rate while the completing day to day activities and while at rest. This provides us with an accurate blood pressure average through monitoring at regular intervals.

Partnering with our nurse Julia, Australian Hearing ran three sessions of hearing tests during October, November and December. Relevant to our community’s population with 60% of over 60’s experiencing some degree of hearing loss, it is important that your hearing is checked every 3 years. Our nurse is available should you have any queries regarding your hearing health or if you need an audiogram (hearing test) completed. For concession and pension card holders the hearing test are bulk billed, for private patients with Medicare a gap payment of $36.35 is payable.

During November the Osteoporosis Solutions mobile scanning truck was on site completing bone density scanning. It was a huge success and will be run again in late 2016. Patient who didn’t attend this year’s bone density scanning can express interest to our Practice Nurse Julia to check for eligibility.

Our first health promotion to be run throughout the summer months of January and February in 2016 will be a skin check clinic. This clinic is designed to reduce the incidences of skin cancers through patient education and early detection. If you have noticed any differences in your skin lately or have any concerns regarding skin issues that you want to have checked out, please speak to Reception to make an appointment.

We thank you for your support throughout 2015 and we look forward to being of service to you in 2016.