HOTDOC News: With the recent news about the ACCC taking legal action against another online booking provider, due to alleged misuse of patient information and altering of reviews HotDoc (our online booking system) wants to reassure their customers that they do not and will never sell patient information to third parties. Due to the amount of press coverage, many patients are understandably concerned and seeking more information from practices on how their booking provider handles their information. Please see their Patient Privacy Statement for more information here.

You can book online with HotDoc at The Practice Bundanoon here.

FEE SCHEDULE: Our fee schedule has been changed recently, and an updated version has been attached below. If you have any questions, please let reception / Practice Manager on duty know.

We would like everyone to know that the books are open at The Practice – Bundanoon. We are accepting all new patients. If you would like to make an appointment you can do so online through our booking system here, by phoning us on (02) 4883 7072 or by coming in to see us at 4 Erith Street, Bundanoon 2578.  Attached is our New Patient Information Sheet if you would like to print off a copy to bring with you to your appointment, or we can give you one when you arrive.

May is Asthma  Awareness Month at The Practice – Bundanoon

The Practice – Bundanoon will aim to highlight a health issue each month to bring awareness and more knowledge to our patients.

The facts:

• Asthma impacts most Australians
• Asthma is a long term disease
• Asthma is a life-threatening disease
• Asthma triggers are varied and include pollen, smoke, physical activity, exercise, colds and thunderstorms
• Using an asthma preventer every day is the best way to reduce asthma symptoms and flare-ups.

If you need anymore information or think you may be suffering from any symptoms please make an appointment to see your practitioner.

April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month at The Practice – Bundanoon

The Practice – Bundanoon will aim to highlight a health issue each month to bring awareness and more knowledge to our patients.

The facts:

• The exact cause of Parkinson’s is unknown, but both genetics & environment are causes.
• Potential early symptoms may include an impaired sense of smell, certain sleep disorders, constipation & unusual fatigue
• More than 5 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s Disease.

Please see our poster below along with a small letter which we thought to be very informative and compassionate. If you have any new symptoms please make an appointment to see your GP

March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month at The Practice – Bundanoon

The Practice – Bundanoon will aim to highlight a health issue each month to bring awareness and more knowledge to our patients.

The facts:

• 4 Australian Women are diagnosed each day.
• 3 Australian women will die each day
• 1 in 10 Australians knows someone who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer

Please see the video below, and if you have any new symptoms and experience one or more of them persistently over a four-week period please contact your GP. Visit https://ovariancancer.net.au/ for more information.

January is Skin Cancer Awareness Month at The Practice – Bundanoon

The Practice – Bundanoon will aim to highlight a health issue each month to bring awareness and more knowledge to our patients.

Please see our handout  below, ‘Can you spot a skin cancer’ – you can also pick up a printed copy in at the practice.

The Cancer Council advises those at risk should be examined by a professional at least once a year.

If you haven’t already, you can book a skin check appointment* with Dr Rajendra.

* Normal consultation fees apply. Please see front desk for more information

We have recently moved to HotDoc as our online booking system. You may have received an SMS letting you know about this change, or have received an appointment reminder.

You will be receiving these reminders every time you have an upcoming appointment, if you are required to make an appointment regarding non-urgent results, or for important health reminders such as an immunisation, cervical screen, blood test etc.

Please know that if you are not comfortable receiving these SMS reminders, you can opt out at any time. We encourage you to let us know if you are having any problems or if you have any questions.

You can access HotDoc either through their website at hotdoc.com.au or through our website at thepracticebundanoon.com.au. Or directly via their app via your phone.

When at their website press “I’m a patient” and search for ‘The Practice Bundanoon’. You will then be taken to our home page.

To book on our website, go to ‘Contact and Appointments’ and click on the green, ‘Book Appointment’ button.

Step by Step Booking…

• Choose your practitioner by clicking on ‘View Dr…’
• Press the button ‘See Available Times’
• Choose whether the appointment is for yourself or someone else (i.e your child, partner etc.)
• Select whether you have visited before
• Select the reason for seeing your practitioner (i.e. standard consultation, script, skin check etc.) Please note that any appointments that require both the nurse and the doctor (i.e. blood tests, health assessments etc.) will still have to be made by phoning reception on 4883 7072.
• By selecting the type of appointment it will allow you to see the next available time. Choose a time that suits you.
• You will then be asked if you have booked with HotDoc before—if ‘No’ please create a HotDoc account and agree with the terms and conditions.
• Once you have set this up you will receive an SMS Code to enter
• You will then click “Create Account” and review the details of your desired appointment.
• If these details are correct, click “Request Appointment”
• Your appointment will then be confirmed and you are done.
• When receiving a message from HotDoc to confirm an appointment you can either click on the link which will take you to the appointment where you can also cancel and rebook if need be. Or you can text back YES if you’re going to make the appointment, or NO if you won’t be able to make it.

• When receiving a message regarding an ‘important health message’ please click on the link where you will then be asked for some identification points. After entering these details you will be informed of the message—this will be a message regarding a non-urgent results appointment (we will always call you if they’re urgent), or a reminder for a health reminder such as a health assessment, immunization, cervical screen, bowel screen etc.

• If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact reception.

This general practice is AGPAL accredited – what does this mean?

Being accredited means that our general practice is committed to a comprehensive program which involves:

• Engaging our whole practice team to review our practice’s systems and processes
• Opening our practice doors to allow a team of independent surveyors to assess how our practice operates
• Assessment of our practice, and achievement of the nationally recognised Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for general practices, that focus on health care quality and patient safety.

As a member of the community you may be surprised to learn that general practice accreditation is a voluntary process – which means not all practices undergo an independent on-site assessment on a regular basis.

Achievement of AGPAL accreditation reassures you that our doctors and practice team are committed to providing you with high quality health care in a safe environment.

Next time you visit our practice be sure to look out for the AGPAL Accredited General Practice Symbol (below) or our accreditation certificate. Our practice team is proud of this achievement and as part of this process we continuously strive to make quality improvements to better your patient experience.

Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL) is a not-for-profit independent provider of general practice accreditation in Australia. To learn more about the benefits of accreditation to you, your family and the Australian community click here or visit www.agpal.com.au.

Dr Rajendra, 2018

Did you know that every Australian will have an online health record created unless they opt out by the end of the year? The record is called the My Health Record.

Health information about individuals is uploaded by health professionals and institutions in different formats as illustrated in the diagram above. For many uploaded documents, consent must be obtained from the patient. Many people have an online record already with over 5.75 million Australians registered and greater than 5.48 million clinical documents uploaded. Interestingly, I have found in our practice, some people don’t know they have an online record.

The benefits of having such a system are self-evident and illustrated below.

In Australia, there are approximately 2 million medication related mistakes each year. Each year this costs the health system 1.3 billion dollars and 230,000 additional hospital admissions. It is estimated that there are 10,000 extra deaths from medication mistakes each year. Having timely access to patient information, as provided in the My Health record, would almost certainly reduce this staggering problem.

There are downsides too. Foremost is the issue of security and privacy of the information. The body that manages the My Health Record is called the Australian Digital Health Agency. It has a cyber security section that is devoted to protecting the information against hacking and other security threats. The physical site where the data is kept is in Australia, but the location is a secret. One third of general practices in the South West Sydney Public Health Network (which includes Bundanoon) do not have adequate computerisation to upload patient information to the record. The patients that attend these practices will not be able to have their data uploaded. Another issue is that the information that is uploaded must by cleansed, meaning that the health data must be complete and accurate. This can be a daunting task for uploaders such as general practices who are already busy. In our practice, one of our staff has been assigned specifically to data cleansing.

The My Health Record is an important new addition to the health infrastructure. Its success will mean savings of billions of dollars each year in health dollars and the saving of lives.  Its success depends on the participation of not only patients but the providers of health care. Previous trials related to the My Health Record over the last 18 years have largely failed because of complacency of its users. This is the reason the government has decided to use an opt out system. If you don’t want to have a My Health Record than you have to make the effort to stop it. For those of you who chose to opt out, you will have any opportunity to do so in the next few months.