As a practice we are very concerned regarding the COVID-19 virus and it's risk to our community.

The risk to individual people, particularly if young and healthy, is fairly low. Those that are elderly or with chronic health conditions are at higher risk of severe illness. If the virus get hold and spread widely and quickly, the medical services will not be able to cope.

Please consider:

• Avoiding social contact wherever possible, particularly in large groups
• Keeping a distance of 2m apart from others at all times
• Frequent hand-washing using alcohol based gel or soap and water
• Download and activate the COVID Safe app
• We urge all commuity members to get vaccinated, please check the government website for details of eligibility and availability. We are able to provide the Astrazenica vaccine to anyone eligible.

It is up to all of us to do what we need to do to protect the more vulnerable members of our community, as well as those in the community that are otherwise young and well, but unlucky. We are now in the process of reducing restrictions across the state, however need to consider preventing a second wave.

What to do if you are unwell

Most people catching COVID-19 will not get seriously unwell, however isolation is required to prevent the spread to others.

If you are severely short of breath or unwell, please contact 000 to organise an ambulance.

If mildly unwell, please contact the surgery for a phone consultation. Otherwise stay at home and minimise contact with other people.

Testing for infection with COVID-19

The current advice is to test all people with symptoms of fever or an acute respiratory illness, no matter how mild, for COVID-1. Your GP can arrange testing through a drive through collection centre or respiratory clinic for any person who has symptoms which could indicate COVID-19. If you are symptomatic with any viral symptoms however, please phone ahead first for a phone consultation with the doctor before presenting to the clinic. 

Medical Certificates

If you need a medical certificate for minor upper respiratory tract symptoms, you will need to book  a telephone consultation with the doctor. Please do not attend in person.

Requests for medical certificates to exclude someone from work, or to allow a person to return to work, based on their pre-existing conditions and risk from COVID are not generally possible to provide. The balance between risk to the individual if they were to contract COVID-19, and the risk from not attending work is largely not a medical question and depends very much on individual circumstances. Given the risk of COVID-19 is likely to persist for months to years, any action taken to limit this risk must be continued indefinitely . Should a doctor provide such a certificate, then this will be with the understanding that this is a permanent certification.

Our practice policy follows expert advice in that we cannot provide certification for mask exemptions. In the case that you have a medical condition severe enough to preclude you from wearing a mask, then you are at high risk should you catch COVID 19 and should remain at home during any period of mandatory mask wearing.

Vaccination and Mask Exemptions

Outside of the very strict criteria for exemptions for vaccination, our practice doctors cannot offer any exemptions for vaccination. If you have any concerns around COVID vaccination and would like further information or help with attaining vaccination status, please feel free to discuss it with one of our doctors in an appointment.

Our doctors are also generally unable to provide mask exemption letters. These letters have no firm legal standing and of course don't protect against infection or transmission. During times of mandatory mask wearing, we will not allow anyone to enter the practice without a mask in place. For those patients unable to wear a mask we can offer telephone appointments and examination in their car outside the practice.

We are also proactively planning

We have a pandemic plan which is designed to provide continuity of care to our patients in the event one of our staff gets the virus. If we have to close the clinic the doctors will be able to work from home. In the event the clinic is closed we will advise the contact details for phone consultations on the website as this may change.