Whether it’s in person, online, written, spoken, or a combination – we pride ourselves on our teamwork, people, and culture and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Take the next steps!
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Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar never even got on a plane. Rohit Sharma got delayed. Virat Kohli went home after one. KL Rahul was injured without playing. Mohammad Shami almost lost his arm after one Test. Umesh Yadav limped off after three innings. Ravindra Jadeja virtually had his thumb removed. Rishabh Pant had to get scans. Hanuma Vihari’s hamstring looks shot. 17 players have been used in three Tests. They might play as many as 19 to finish the series.
India were beset by injuries and departures as you can read above. They still won the series. Perhaps they won because the Australians were fatigued after back to back to back games in a bubble. Perhaps the injection of fresh faces, fresh minds, and fresh bodies gave them an edge. Perhaps the better team just won, against all odds. The better team.
General Practice always involves teamwork – Your GP knows a fair bit about a lot, but there are always subject matter experts or specialists. We have Physiotherapy with Rod and Movement Theory, and Podiatry with Rosie from Foot and Sole Podiatry onsite, and we have THREE awesome psychologists to help your mental health and wellbeing – Mr Mark Edwards, Ms Monika Kolta, and introducing Ms Jen Riches!
Our newer GPs and Registrars back up our more established GPs. Perhaps the injection of fresh faces, fresh minds, and fresh thinking give us an edge. Perhaps the better team will just win. The better team. PartridgeGP is founded on you having your own great GP, and we will always endeavour to have you see your own great GP. When this isn’t possible, when your GP is away, or when you need to be seen at short notice, isn’t it awesome that ALL of the GPs here take comprehensive notes, share information, and practice with the same ethos. You get the best of both worlds – the care, attention, and relationship with YOUR GP, and the benefits of our medical and nursing team as a backup and a bonus.
We pride ourselves on our teamwork, people, and culture and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Take the next steps!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Newborn oral health simplified for tired mums and dads.
When my twins were born, I had 3 babies under the age of 2. To suggest that I was tired was a massive understatement. I remember one night of severe sleep deprivation when I honestly thought my son’s penis had fallen off after mixing up my boy/girl twins in the middle of yet another sleepless night nappy change. New mums and dads experience a type of exhaustion that can only be truly understood by fellow parents.
With everything that is on your mind as a new parent, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the information given to you. If you’re anything like me, if it’s overwhelming to do something, I do nothing. So, today I hope to simplify a few things for you about caring for your new babies mouth and teeth when they emerge. Ok, ready for a quick lesson? Good, me too! Lets go!
Dummy or no dummy?
Ok, this one really annoys me as both a mum and an Oral Health Therapist. There seems to be this frequently recurring negative narrative about caregivers who give their babies dummies. For the record, all of my kids had dummies. My eldest boy, Alex, had his til he was 4 and the twins til they were 3 (I weaned them all at the same time). Babies are meant to suck. They suck to soothe, increase feeding strength, make them happy and to comfort them. In fact, suckling is one of the 5 womb sensations that trigger the baby’s innate calming reflex. Dummy use has even been shown to decrease the rate of SIDS, although the exact reason is still unknown. They can either suck on a breast, a bottle, a dummy or a thumb.
As much as I loved breastfeeding, I had no desire to sit for hours on end while the babies used my sore cracked, bleeding nipples as a pacifier. Bottles and formula can be expensive and can cause bottle decay in babies, so that’s not ideal either. Thumbs are attached to the baby (funnily enough), so trying to remove a thumb from a child to wean them is literally impossible. So that leaves us with a dummy. You can read more about what kind of dummy is best. But apart from that, if a dummy soothes your baby and lets you get a few extra hours sleep, let them have a dummy. Trust me, it’s not the end of the world, but sleep deprivation can be.
But a last word on dummies; please please please do not suck the dummy yourself or anyone else. Bacteria from your mouth can be transferred to the baby and it can have disastrous outcomes including decay, thrush, cold sores and even the common cold which you may not know you have. Carry spare clean dummies with you or rinse under cold running water if it gets dropped or soiled.
When to start brushing baby’s teeth?
Well, both of my boys were born with their lower front teeth present, called “natal teeth” so I started gently brushing their little teeth right from day 1, but what is best practice for others? Start when the baby is a few days old, good routines are established early. Cover your finger with a clean damp washcloth and gently wipe the inside of the baby’s mouth and gums. When baby teeth start to appear, around 6 months of age, start cleaning them using a very soft childrens toothbrush without any toothpaste. Bacteria starts to accumulate in babies’ mouths very soon after birth, so it’s important to start the daily habit of removing the oral bacteria early on. The bacteria that causes decay is transferred to the baby from caregivers, so regular dental check ups and daily good oral hygiene practices are a must for all caregivers too.
Your child’s first dental appointment should be before their first birthday.
This also establishes good rapport and familiarity to the dental setting for the child so that future dental appointments are carried out easily without fear. You can read more about my recommendations for a child’s first dental appointment. I’ll talk more about caring for children’s teeth next week, let’s stick with newborns this week. If you are concerned about your newborns gums, mouth or teeth, make an appointment with your Oral Health Therapist for some excellent knowledge and advice.
Points to remember
If your baby settles better suckling, a dummy is perfectly acceptable to use
Do not suck on the babies dummy yourself, rinse it clean under cold water
Start cleaning babies mouth early on with a clean damp cloth
Use a soft toothbrush once teeth start to appear
No toothpaste until the age of 2, then only use a children’s toothpaste with reduced fluoride
Adult strength toothpaste from age 6
First dental check before babies first birthday
Most of all do what works for you. Your Oral Health Therapist should be supportive, flexible and understanding of everyone’s needs. They are there to help you, not judge.
We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
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Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Many of you will be concerned about COVID19 mutant strains and many of you will be concerned about the vaccines available. Let’s reclaim copium and hopium and give some more reassuring information.
Don’t panic: New COVID strains are not ‘escape mutants’ and vaccines should still work. The variants have shut down nations and led to surges of new cases and deaths – but experts say current vaccines should still protect against the mutations. New COVID variants are increasing, but experts say there is no need to panic yet.Both the Brazilian and South African variants have a change that can reduce antibody binding, potentially reducing the efficacy of vaccines, as well as making a reinfection more likely. This polymorphism – e484k – is not present in the UK variant. The Brazilian variant has triggered a disastrous new tide of infection in the city of Manaus in the Amazon, where fully 75% of the population contracted the virus last year. This, experts fear, could point to a partial ‘immune escape’ – or suggest people who got milder cases in the first wave are faring worse with this new variant.
If they prove necessary, seasonal COVID vaccines could be available much faster than this first generation of vaccines.
In the second phase of vaccine rollout, with the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine (a more traditional vaccine), Australian General Practice and PartridgeGP will do our bit to get those who want to be vaccinated protected ASAP, at scale, as safely as we can. Our plans are well advanced. It is super important to us to play our part – and important that people are informed, and not coerced. We can see that countries and areas overseas – the UK, Europe, the US – are being more affected by COVID, and they are having to take more risks than us. We will learn from them. We will have their data and experiences to look upon before we take the plunge ourselves.
But are they safe, I hear you ask? Well, I’ve also written about risk, here, and here, but today, as an introduction, I have a very very smart person describe a story where Australia’s contribution to world vaccination DID NOT work. It wasn’t up to scratch, and so they canned it. That should give us no little confidence in what has been approved. Enough of me – handing over to the super smart Ms Maddie Massy-Westropp.
A deal for the Australian government to purchase more than 50 million doses of a promising new COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and global biotechnology company CSL limited, has been abruptly terminated. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on December 11, UQ and CSL announced that the vaccine would not progress to Phase 2/3 clinical trials.
The UQ-CSL vaccine contains the Spike protein, a molecule located on the coronavirus surface. The Spike protein enables the virus to enter human and other animal host cells, where it replicates itself. When the vaccine is administered to a person, the immune system recognises the Spike protein and generates neutralising antibodies which can bind to it. If that person is exposed to COVID-19 in the future, those same antibodies can attack the Spike protein on the coronavirus surface, preventing the virus from entering host cells and replicating. The Spike protein was kept in a stable form in the vaccine using the novel, patented molecular clamp technology which UQ has been developing for the past 10 years.
However, the trial participants also had an immune response against the gp41 component of the vaccine. This has no health consequences at all, but widespread rollout of the vaccine could complicate the HIV screening process. Due to the production of gp41 antibodies, many people who have received the vaccine could falsely test positive on the standard HIV test. Community confidence in vaccine development is critical, with a new survey by The Australian National University showing that 41% of Australian adults would be hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
A tough decision was made
On December 11, UQ and CSL together announced that clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccine have been abandoned. Read the whole article here. The famous advert below rings true, and that why I have confidence in Australia’a COVID vaccination program.
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
2021 – apparently the year of the rescheduled Olympics. Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics are agonizing over whether to hold the event amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Japan and around the world. We live in Australia, arguably the greatest place to live in the world at any time, and certainly while there is a global pandemic. Australia has the benefit of being a wealthy island and is actually quite hard to get to. This applies to viruses, people, but not tennis players…
Heads up guys, with all the controversy about whether virus particles get through masks (spoiler – where there is low community transmission of COVID-19, wearing a mask in the community when you are well is not generally recommended. However, where there is significant community transmission (as determined by jurisdictional public health authorities), you may choose, or be required to, wear a mask. If physical distancing is difficult to maintain, for example on public transport, covering your face with a mask can provide some extra protection), I can reveal that virus particles get through the holes between the cross strings and main strings on a tennis racquet!
My $0.02 is that the Australian Open should go ahead, with firmly enforced quarantine rules, and the players should accept that the standard of play and injury risk will be different to previous years and compete (or not) accordingly. A further $0.02 worth of thoughts from me is that the Olympics should be a virtual event this year, as far as is possible, and should be sponsored by Zoom.
Yesterday, we introduced our new and existing allied health providers – today, it’s our new GPs and non GP specialist doctors!
Dr Ciara Peddell completed her medical training at the University of Tasmania in 2014. Since then she has worked in hospitals and GP practices in Townsville and Brisbane. She completed the Diploma of Child Health in 2017 through the University of Sydney and received her RACGP fellowship in 2019. Dr Ciara is looking forward to moving to Adelaide in January to start her work at Partridge GP.
Dr Elias Salagaras completed his medical training through the University of Adelaide in 2017. He is enthusiastic about child health, having completed rotations at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. He was also worked throughout the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, and the Whyalla Hospital. He is looking forward to bringing all of this recent knowledge to his specialist GP training! He will kick off the new year with a great mindset and our Great Team here at PartridgeGP!
PartridgeGP is proud to welcome Dr Nick Brook and the EastWestUrology Team to our premises at 670 Anzac Highway! Another Dr Nick I hear you say – this Dr Nick is a specialist urologist: Urology is the surgical and medical management of problems of the male and female urinary system, and male reproductive system. There is some overlap with other areas of medicine and surgery, and sometimes joint care is required. Dr Nick is joined by Dr Dan Spernat, Dr Mark Lloyd, and Urology Nurse Specialist Louise, to provide a comprehensive service from PartridgeGP, for both males and females with urological (bladder and kidney and prostate) issues.
Dr Katherine Astill commenced her specialist General Practice training with PartridgeGP in August 2017, returned in August 2019, and is back again from February 2021! She graduated with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from the University of South Australia in 2009 and furthered her education with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Deakin University in 2013. After holding positions with the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, she decided to specialise in General Practice, with a special interest in Women’s and Children’s Health completing her Diploma of Child Health in 2016. Dr Katherine has a passion for holistic care and preventative health. She is also a strong advocate for a plant based diet and healthy lifestyle and looks forward to helping people with both of these.
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
In the second phase of vaccine rollout, with the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine (a more traditional vaccine), Australian General Practice and PartridgeGP will do our bit to get those who want to be vaccinated protected ASAP, at scale, as safely as we can. Our plans are well advanced. It is super important to us to play our part – and important that people are informed, and not coerced. We can see that countries and areas overseas – the UK, Europe, the US – are being more affected by COVID, and they are having to take more risks than us. We will learn from them. We will have their data and experiences to look upon before we take the plunge ourselves.
But are they safe, I hear you ask? Well, I’ve also written about risk, here, and here, but today, as an introduction, I have a very very smart person describe a story where Australia’s contribution to world vaccination DID NOT work. It wasn’t up to scratch, and so they canned it. That should give us no little confidence in what has been approved. Enough of me – handing over to the super smart Ms Maddie Massy-Westropp.
A deal for the Australian government to purchase more than 50 million doses of a promising new COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and global biotechnology company CSL limited, has been abruptly terminated. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on December 11, UQ and CSL announced that the vaccine would not progress to Phase 2/3 clinical trials.
The UQ-CSL vaccine contains the Spike protein, a molecule located on the coronavirus surface. The Spike protein enables the virus to enter human and other animal host cells, where it replicates itself. When the vaccine is administered to a person, the immune system recognises the Spike protein and generates neutralising antibodies which can bind to it. If that person is exposed to COVID-19 in the future, those same antibodies can attack the Spike protein on the coronavirus surface, preventing the virus from entering host cells and replicating. The Spike protein was kept in a stable form in the vaccine using the novel, patented molecular clamp technology which UQ has been developing for the past 10 years.
However, the trial participants also had an immune response against the gp41 component of the vaccine. This has no health consequences at all, but widespread rollout of the vaccine could complicate the HIV screening process. Due to the production of gp41 antibodies, many people who have received the vaccine could falsely test positive on the standard HIV test. Community confidence in vaccine development is critical, with a new survey by The Australian National University showing that 41% of Australian adults would be hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
A tough decision was made
On December 11, UQ and CSL together announced that clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccine have been abandoned. Read the whole article here. The famous advert below rings true, and that why I have confidence in Australia’a COVID vaccination program.
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
This post is a politics free zone. Thank God for that! PartridgeGP is entering 2021 with some big challenges to come – a pandemic, mass vaccinations for influenza and COVID, an economic downturn, and whatever else the year has to bring. We are absolutely committed to helping our patients, our community, and the doctors and allied health professionals we serve! Here to Help – and this is what we have in store for the first 6 weeks of the year…
Mark Edwards is a registered psychologist and Flinders Medical School lecturer. He has over 30 years of psychology experience helping people with simple to very complex personal and relationship problems.
Jen is a registered psychologist experienced in providing services to adolescents and adults. She has worked with individuals experiencing a range of life issues such as relationship and family breakdowns, bullying, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, grief and loss, social isolation and legal issues. She works with people experiencing a range of complex mental health issues including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and psychosis. She has experience in providing psychology services to clients through secure online video conferencing and face to face. Aside from her private practice experience Jen has worked at Headspace, Lifeline, and MATES in Construction. Jen is passionate about providing professional, down to earth and practical psychology services.
Jen draws on a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Schema Therapy. Jen brings empathy, warmth and compassion to therapy and takes an individualised approach to each client. See and hear her here!
Monika Kolta is now available to see clients and has a special interest in working with children who experience:• Anxiety/Panic/Phobia• School Refusal• Adjustment Difficulties• Attention Deficit• Depression/Posttraumatic Stress• Behavioural difficulties • Grief and loss• Family changes • Sleep Problems. She is also available to assist adults experiencing a range of difficulties, including parenting challenges, anxiety, depression and adjustment issues. Monika can provide services under Medicare Better Access, Chronic Disease Management Plans (also known as EPC), RTWSA (WorkCover) and Private health funds.
I’ve repeated this message many times now – hopefully the result is more Bruce Lee and less Frederic Bastiat!
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you. Tomorrow – we’ll introduce all of our new and returning GPs and non GP specialist doctors!
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
I’ve repeated this message many times now – hopefully the result is more Bruce Lee and less Frederic Bastiat!
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Welcome back, hopefully you all enjoyed an awesome Monday and snuck in a sneaky floss after Danielle’s guest post yesterday. Today I’d like to talk about a whopper of a word – disintermediation. This word will win most games of Scrabble but that’s not why I’m bringing it up. It’s not disinformation – this will not be a big long post about #fakenews (I’m smiling here, I hope you are too). Let’s come back to disintermediation in a bit.
Using your regular GP and General Practice regularly and appropriately is a great win for nearly everyone’s general health in Australia. Primary care in Australia is a massive contributor to the general health and well-being of Australians and General Practice and GPs are a massive part of primary care. Primary care is generally the first contact a person has with Australia’s health system. It relates to the treatment of patients who are not admitted to hospital. Primary care can be provided in the home or in community-based settings such as general practices, other private medical practices, community health centres, local government, and non-government service settings, such as Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services.
I’ve drawn my line in the sand so let’s dig in a little bit further. Why is your GP and your general practice such a value add to your health? One part of how this magic occurs is through eliminating disintermediation (We got back there eventually). Disintermediation is a reduction in the use of intermediaries between producers and consumers, for example by investing directly in the securities market rather than through a bank, or in a more pertinent example, patients bypassing primary care to directly present to secondary (non GP specialists like cardiologists – heart specialists) or tertiary care (hospital inpatient wards/units). Why is this an issue? After all, we have a fantastic online booking system for appointments at PartridgeGP which works by removing the need for an in hours phone call and conversation. You can sit on the toilet, or a comfier seat, at 8am, 8pm, or any time in between, and make your appointment with your PartridgeGP doctor of choice online. This removes a step you don’t always want to have to go through. It’s great, and allows our lovely front of house team to serve you better.
When the intermediary is not a barrier, but a guide, removing this can be a loss rather than a gain. Rory Sutherland sums it up in the quote below. He’s an advertising professional – I will take more words to make the same point. Having a GP as an intermediary between you and the medical maze/hospital system gives you a companion, a guide, a trusted advisor, and, at the very least, someone to complain to if there is a problem (just remember when you connected to the NBN…)!
I’ve got an anecdote where I was made aware of a patient who entered the hospital system. A smart patient with full private health cover, with more than a little experience in the medical field, who found themselves trying to navigate the medical system unaided. Their GP wasn’t contacted, their personal non-GP specialist wasn’t contacted, and as a result of this they had to undertake some tests at an expense of time, energy, and possible adverse effects to achieve a suboptimal result.
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
As a dental practitioner with over 20 years experience, there’s one thing that has always perplexed me about bleeding gums. Why do people think it’s “normal” and ignore it for so long?! If you woke up one morning and your eyes were bleeding, I can guarantee that you’d be in the emergency department or in your GP’s office before 9am. So why do people accept bleeding gums as “normal”?
Is it because the general public isn’t aware of what bleeding gums (gingivitis) can actually mean? Let’s learn together. As soon as one of my patients sits in my dental chair and starts with “I’ve been getting a bit of bleeding when brushing, but that’s all” (or words to that effect), my mind starts ticking. My mental checklist is:
● Is this patient pregnant or breastfeeding?
○ Dental plaque has been shown to significantly increase the risk of preterm labour and low birth weight babies
● Is the patient at risk of diabetes?
○ Gingivitis is an early warning sign of undiagnosed or poorly controlled diabetes
● Is the patient at risk of heart disease or stroke?
○ Patients who have gum disease are 2 to 3 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than someone with a healthy mouth
● Is the patient a smoker or taking prescribed/non prescribed substances?
● Could this patient have a vitamin deficiency?
○ Smoking, medication/substance use and vitamin deficiencies are a precursor to a very nasty (and particularly smelly) disease called Acute Necrotising Gingivitis
What will your dental professional do once you tell them you have bleeding gums?
What will your dental professional do once you tell them you have bleeding gums? Firstly a thorough oral examination must be carried out. Best practice is a full oral cancer examination at every recall, ideally twice a year. They will check your lips, cheeks, gums, tongue, and palate, as well as all of your facial structures for any changes. If they find any unusual lumps, bumps, swelling or lesions you will probably be referred to an Oral Surgeon for assessment. Oral Cancers are not common, but for every hundred suspicious areas we refer, we will see a handful of them return as malignant lesions.
If your gums are bleeding because of a build up of plaque and bacteria, an Oral Health Therapist or Dental Hygienist can see you for a deep clean and oral hygiene instructions. If further or more extensive treatment is needed, you may be referred to a Periodontist who specialises in all things gum related. Pregnant women with heavily bleeding gums will have them thoroughly cleaned and debrided, placed on a 3 month recall and sometimes referred to a Periodontist, depending on the severity. In rare cases a painful growth, called Pregnancy Epulis, may need surgical intervention.
If you see your GP for your bleeding gums, your next stop should be an appropriate dental professional for investigation. Whilst your GP is a fantastic place for your general health, no one knows your mouth like your dental professional. So if you spit out blood after tooth brushing, if your gums are spontaneously bleeding while eating (or just bleeding full stop), please make an appointment with your Dentist, Oral Health Therapist or Dental Hygienist to make sure your bleeding gums are not a warning sign for something sinister.
After all, you wouldn’t ignore bleeding eyeballs, would you?
We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
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If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
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