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General Practice, Health digest

The simple explanation of Australian Privacy Principle 6 (APP 6)

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Q1: What is Australian Privacy Principle 6 (APP 6)? A1: APP 6 is a set of rules in Australia that talks about how companies use and share our personal information. Q2: What does the term “Primary Purpose” mean in the context of APP 6? A2: Primary purpose means the main reason why a company collects our information. For example, if you give your details at the doctor’s, the main reason is to help with your healthcare. Q3: How does APP 6 relate to the collection of information from patients? A3: APP 6 is important when companies, like hospitals, collect information from patients. It says they should only collect what they really need for the main reason, like providing healthcare. Q4: What is a “Related Secondary Purpose” under APP 6? A4: Sometimes, they might use your information for something related, like health research. But they can only do this if it’s connected to the main reason and you’d expect it. Q5: How should organisations handle information for related secondary purposes? A5: Companies should tell us clearly why they’re collecting our information and what they might use it for. If they want to use it for something unexpected, they need to ask us first. Q6: What steps should organisations take to ensure compliance with APP 6? A6: Companies need to make sure they keep our information safe and only use it the way they said they would. They should have clear rules in place and follow them. Q7: What are the consequences of non-compliance with APP 6? A7: If companies don’t follow these rules, they could get in trouble. They might have to pay fines, and people might not trust them anymore. Q8: How can organisations handling patient information ensure compliance with APP 6? A8: To follow these rules, companies should be clear about what they’re doing with our information, keep it safe, and stick to the promises they make about using it. Free online courses and CPD for GPs, practice nurses, and medical receptionists are here. Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

General Practice, GP, Health digest, Uncategorized

Why do people need travel vaccination?

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Travel vaccination. Why do people need travel vaccination? The answer is simple. Different areas worldwide have different bugs – viruses and bacteria causing illness. For example, people travelling to Bali should have a minimum of Measles-Mumps-Rubella, Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis, Polio and Influenza. Additional shots against Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Rabies, Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis and Hepatitis B may be required if you engage in certain activities or visit certain areas. Doctors will help you with the decisions about what vaccines you need. Some destinations require certain vaccination to enter or return to Australia. The best example is the Yellow fever vaccination. People travelling to ‘risk destinations’ must have a Yellow fever vaccination certificate issued by a registered provider. Countries with high risk for Yellow fever include African countries such as Nigeria, Uganda, Togo and Ghana, as well as some destinations in Central/South America, including Brazil, Argentina (Misiones and Corrientes provinces) and Peru. Forty-two countries are on Australia’s Yellow Fever risk list of countries and areas. You should visit your GP at least 6 to 8 weeks before planned travel to discuss your vaccination needs. Some vaccines require a longer time between the shot and travel to become effective. The cost of travel vaccination varies a lot. Please, shop for better options. [fusion_imageframe image_id=”2523|medium” aspect_ratio=”” custom_aspect_ratio=”100″ aspect_ratio_position=”” skip_lazy_load=”” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” lightbox_image_id=”” alt=”” link=”https://mentonegeneralpractice.com.au/” linktarget=”_blank” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” sticky_display=”normal,sticky” class=”” id=”” max_width=”” sticky_max_width=”” align_medium=”none” align_small=”none” align=”center” mask=”” custom_mask=”” mask_size=”” mask_custom_size=”” mask_position=”” mask_custom_position=”” mask_repeat=”” style_type=”” blur=”” stylecolor=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” hover_type=”none” margin_top_medium=”” margin_right_medium=”” margin_bottom_medium=”” margin_left_medium=”” margin_top_small=”” margin_right_small=”” margin_bottom_small=”” margin_left_small=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” bordersize=”1″ bordercolor=”#000000″ borderradius=”” z_index=”” caption_style=”off” caption_align_medium=”none” caption_align_small=”none” caption_align=”none” caption_title=”” caption_text=”” caption_title_tag=”2″ fusion_font_family_caption_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_title_font=”” caption_title_size=”” caption_title_line_height=”” caption_title_letter_spacing=”” caption_title_transform=”” caption_title_color=”” caption_background_color=”” fusion_font_family_caption_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_text_font=”” caption_text_size=”” caption_text_line_height=”” caption_text_letter_spacing=”” caption_text_transform=”” caption_text_color=”” caption_border_color=”” caption_overlay_color=”” caption_margin_top=”” caption_margin_right=”” caption_margin_bottom=”” caption_margin_left=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_color=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_delay=”0″ animation_offset=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″]https://www.iseegp.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Mentone-General-Practice-travel-Yellow-fever-vaccination-300×70.png[/fusion_imageframe] Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

General Practice, GP

Is your GP rorting Medicare?

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Is your GP rorting Medicare? Most certainly not. The majority of GPs are honest hard-working doctors who got really offended recently. They were offended by the sleek multimillion software entrepreneurs who made ridiculous claims against ALL doctors in Australia. Here is the open letter that one GP practice gave to its patients. You are welcome to do the same. You can download a copy of this letter here. Dear Patient of ours, You may have read some articles claiming that $8 billion dollars are rorted out of Medicare by doctors. This is not true. There was not a single shred of evidence provided by the authors of those articles. Who are the people who made those claims? One is a woman who is looking forward to multimillion profits from selling her software that ‘bills Medicare right’. She needs to create panic, fear and hate to sell her product and receive millions of dollars from medical practices. Practices that hardly survive now will have to pay exuberant fees to this woman. Do you think those costs will be passed to you? Another author is a former ‘Medicare cop’ who caught a couple of bad doctors who rorted Medicare. Then he became angry that he did not catch more and started ‘catching’ honest doctors. Those doctors took him to Court. The Court threw the book at the guy dismissing his allegations against the doctors. He has limited credibility, really. The absolute majority of the doctors are hard-working, honest people who are far from being rich. There are bad apples among the doctors though. Medicare, the Australian Government has been doing a great job catching them. Millions of dollars were returned back to you, the taxpayers, as a result. Doctors themselves delivered those bad actors to Medicare more than anyone else in the public. The claim that every third consultation is a fraud does not add up. And it cannot because it is not true. Do we look like rorters to you? Think of your GP, who addressed your health issue lately or even saved your life. Think of a nurse who tended to your wound with kindness and care. Do they look like rorters and fraudsters to you? The woman who accused ALL Australian doctors of being fraudsters stands to make millions of dollars out of this fear campaign. Who are the losers in this situation? The losers are you and your GP. The result of this mayhem created by those articles is that the Government will cease the situation and abandon Medicare altogether. They will adopt the British failed NHS system. Call your relatives and friends in the UK. Ask them if they are happy with 20-second GP appointments. We, you and us are the victims of a deliberate campaign by money-hungry entrepreneurs and forces in the Government who want to cancel the Australian pride – Medicare. Together, we will prevail. We will not allow sleek multimillion-dollar software developers and shifty politicians to deprive us of the freedom to choose the doctor. We will not allow them to deprive us of the choice of how long we are to have a consultation with the doctor. Who are the rorters here? Please, think and make up your own mind. Do not allow anyone to tell you what to think. Those multimillionaires in the media and rich software developers want you to think as they command. Look at the facts, look in your heart. We are here for you. We will think of your health issues day and night, we will tend to your wounds. Thank you for trusting us and always welcome. Your medical practice. Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

General Practice, Health digest

What is medical gaslighting?

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Gaslighting is when someone tries to make you change your mind by demeaning your point of view. Gaslighting is an aggressive, rude way to persuade the person to change her mind. For example, you raised a concern about some issues at the workplace. The co-worker or a manager responded with sarcasm marking you feel belittled. Reluctantly, you abandoned your concern to stop this passive-aggressive belittling attack. They might have said: “It is all right, sweetie. It is all in your head.” People feel powerless and depressed after someone gaslights them. Gaslighting may have a long-term effect on a person’s mental health. Gaslighting can happen anywhere, including in a healthcare setting. What is medical gaslighting? Some patients feel like they experienced gaslighting at the doctor’s office. For example, a patient complained of pain in the back. The doctor examined the area and said it was all in the patient’s head. That is an example of medical gaslighting. Is this gaslighting or reassurance? One of the essential jobs of a doctor is to provide reassurance to patients. Sometimes the doctor has to tell the patient that the health issue is not serious. A qualified GP, for example, would say: “I appreciate your concern. I understand that the issue causes you pain. However, the good news is that this will pass soon and is not be a serious problem. There will be no long-term effect on your health.” Patients should not jump to conclusions about medical gaslighting. There may have been just a poor attempt by the doctor to give reassurance. Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

General Practice, GP

Where do I find a bulk billing doctor?

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Our readers asked: “Where do I find a bulk billing doctor?”. Why GPs in Australia seldom bulk bill? The answer is simple. The Australian Government neglected General Practice. It is harder and harder for medical clinics to meet ends. What is bulk billing? Bulk billing to Medicare means that patients do not pay out-of-pocket fees for seeing a doctor. The Government pays a standard fee to a doctor for services. The fee is not significant. Some clinics could not survive on that money. Those clinics started charging some additional fees for appointments. Clinics like that are called privately billing clinics. The standard appointment at the privately billing clinic may cost you $95. You will get back from Medicare $39.95. There are still some bulk billing General Practices around in the Bayside area in Melbourne. Almost no bulk billing GP clinics are left in Mentone, Beaumaris, Black Rock and Hampton suburbs. Mentone General Practice is among the few clinics that bulk bills their patients. We asked a manager at one of the bulk billing clinics why they still bulk bill. He says: “Bulk billing in General Practice (like Mentone General Practice) is a philosophy. This view is based on a simple concept that a patient must have no considerations other than her health when deciding to see a doctor. In other words, if it hurts, we must see a doctor without thinking about whether we have 95 dollars in our pocket or not.” Read more of their statement. Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

General Practice, GP

Travelling soon? You need to know about Regulation 24.

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In short: Travelling soon? Do you take regular medications? You need to know about Regulation 24. Regulation 24 allows the pharmacist to give you all the repeat prescriptions at once. Travelling soon? Do you take regular medications? You need to know about Regulation 24. Regulation 24 allows the pharmacist to give you all the repeat prescriptions at once. Your doctor must be satisfied that you would experience some hardship getting medicines where you travel. For example. You take 1 tablet a day for blood pressure. Each script gives you 30 tablets. You are travelling overseas for 60 days. Regulation 24 allows you to ask for all 60 tablets to be issued by the pharmacist at once. Your GP will make a notation on the script that you need all your medications at once. Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

General Practice, GP, Psychology

10 sessions with a psychologist under Medicare in Australia.

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Is it true that one can get 10 sessions with a psychologist under Medicare in Australia? Yes, it is true. One can get ten sessions with a psychologist under Medicare in Australia. People who suffer from mental health problems may be eligible for a referral to a psychologist under Medicare. What is mental health problem? Mental health problem is a term used to describe a range of clinically diagnosable disorders that significantly interfere with an individual’s cognitive, emotional or social abilities. If one is not feeling well mentally and that affects everyday life, there is likely a mental health problem. If you or someone you know suffers from any mental health problem, your GP may arrange a referral to a psychologist under Medicare. This referral entitles the patient to see a psychologist ten times in one calendar year. Some psychologists do not charge any out-of-pocket fees with this referral. Some psychologists charge an extra fee, but it is still less expensive to see a psychologist with this referral. Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not replace professional medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns, please see your doctor.

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