Our General Practice operates from the surgery on the first floor of the Jim Boardman Centre (the tallest building, and prominently "duck-egg" blue) in Horton Street, Port Macquarie. Horton Street is of course, the main street of Port Macquarie and is actually the Eastern terminus of the Oxley Highway. The JBC is opposite Port Central shopping centre which is a convenient place to park.
The original practice dates back at least thirty years now, but has been ours since 1989. It used to operate from the fourth floor with quite an impressive view, but in 1993 we re-built the rooms in a larger area down on the first floor. This provides much easier access by a single flight of stairs to those who might be too anxious to use the lift which latter of course means we do provide full access to the disabled.
We aim to provide a comprehensive general practice to all family members and Port Macquarie nowadays is served by most specialities. We have a slight leaning toward Women's Health services including Family Planning (a polite way of describing the provision of contraceptive services!), but of course men need not feel in any way left out and such is the demography of "Port", we see plenty of retirees.
That reminds me. We only accept patients who expect
a doctor with a sense of
humour
This location in the sub-tropics encourages exposure to the sun and since much of the population has skin entirely un-suited to this but a determination to tan nonetheless, we see a lot of solar skin damage and skin cancers. While in the "big smoke", this might be grounds for referral to a dermatologist, these particular specialists have until just recently (January 1998) been a bit "thin on the ground" in this area. Like most rural GPs, we therefore continue to manage most of these problems ourselves by medication, cryo-surgery, or formal excision, referring more advanced disease to the extremely capable local General Surgeons.
Speaking of surgeons, I (Paul) spend at least part of some weekday mornings assisting the various General Surgeons, so I may be difficult to catch for an appointment on any given morning, but if so an afternoon appointment will usually be available instead. Failing this, I am happy to see people at home when necessary, and generally provide my own after-hours services. Of course I cannot be available all the time, and in my absence the duty doctor (Phone: 019 304 332 ) on the after-hours roster in which I participate, will be available.
We presently "bulk-bill" patients who have a pension or health care card, but this is becoming ever more inconsistent with providing a satisfactory level of medical care as the Medicare rebate has been virtually static over the last five years and has in point of fact never kept up with business costs. Other patients (and necessarily those in the above categories who cannot present both concession and Medicare card) are charged an appropriate fee and are able to claim the rebate from the Medicare office some hundred metres or so down Horton street. We agree that it is somewhat unfair that "fee-paying" patients subsidise those "bulk-billed", but this has been imposed upon us by legislation. Naturally we cannot provide services "on account" to other than regular attenders who pay promptly.
We are as you might expect members of the Port Macquarie Division of General Practice which is a sort of QUANGO(!) promoting health on behalf of the local practitioners (including Kempsey and surrounding rural areas). Presently, I am the liaison person with the NSW Cervical (Cancer) Screening Programme which is all about encouraging all women (technically, only all who have ever been sexually active) to have two-yearly "Pap" smears. The focus of this program is presently on women over 50 who may tend to the dangerously erroneous notion that they are "too old" to have these tests.
And of course I must make mention here of the Midcoast server's directory of medical practitioners on the net. Of course Midcoast also has a directory of all its local users!
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Last modified: March 14th 1998 |
Port Macquarie; Australia
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Carol