OUR RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS,  COVID-19

How we're keeping you safe.

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Updated Monday, 30 March, 2020.

 

The world faces the most serious pandemic threat in a century, and Prahran East Medical Centre is determined to continue to provide the highest standard of care for our local community. With the state essentially going into lockdown, the clinic has instituted a number of measures to optimise the safety of patients and staff alike. These measures are designed to minimise the foot traffic through our clinic and keep those inside as safe from infection as possible.

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Stay at home and use the phone

 

• All patients are asked to book telephone consultations in the first instance, wherever practical, including for new problems, scripts and referrals. If you feel the issue cannot be resolved by telephone, call us to discuss it. Our staff will decide if you need to see a doctor in person, or following a telephone consultation the doctor may ask you to come in for an examination or procedure, generally just afterwards, or at least on the same day.  People with coughs, colds or flu symptoms that are serious enough to require physical assessment or testing will be asked to wear a mask and be seen in an isolated area outdoors.

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• Patients to be seen are asked to wait in their car or outside nearby the clinic until called by the doctor. When it is raining there will be seating provided on our front verandah for those arriving by foot. The waiting room will only be used as a last resort and any people in the waiting room will be kept a safe distance apart.

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• Anyone entering the building is asked to use the hand sanitiser provided upon arrival.

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• Please DO NOT enter the building unless instructed by a staff member.

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The staff at Prahran East Medical Centre thank you very much for your kind cooperation and understanding during this difficult period.

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Testing is available at PEMC

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Testing via nose and throat swab is provided onsite in an isolated area and is currently restricted, primarily to people with both risk factors for contact with the virus (overseas in the last 14 days or close contact* with a confirmed case) AND symptoms, such as any cold or flu symptoms, or fever plus diarrhoea or nausea. Symptomatic health care workers, residential and aged care residents and ATSI people are also being tested. The restrictions are due to a temporary shortage in testing kits in Australia. 

 

What about people with no symptoms yet?

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There is no test to exclude the risk of developing the coronavirus illness in people who may have been infected but remain symptom-free. Incubation can take up to 14 days. For this reason, people with close contact* must self-isolate (quarantine) for 14 days, and get tested if they develop symptoms. See here for advice on self-isolation.

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*Close contact is people who have had face-to-face contact with actual cases for at least 15 minutes, or spent at least two hours in the same space, or anyone who has travelled overseas, in the last 14 days. 

  

*Casual contact is defined as having shorter periods of direct contact with cases.  These people can continue normally and attend work (if necessary) and school (if open), unless they develop symptoms like those mentioned above, in which case they should self-isolate until symptoms have completely resolved. Testing for these people is currently unavailable due to shortages in tests. While well, standard hygiene measures remain important, ie regular handwashing for 20 seconds, keeping people two arm's lengths (1.5m) away, avoiding crowds like public transport where practical and coughing into a tissue or your elbow.

 

Cost of phone consultations

 

Currently, all phone consults are Bulk-Billed. We expect to return to a stratified billing structure in a few days, depending on government announcements about private billing.

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See here for daily updates on COVID-19 from the Victorian Health Department.

 

An excellent video explaining COVID-19 in detail, from friend of PEMC Dr Pat Charles, Head of Infectious Diseases at The Austin Hospital, is here, with updates here and here.

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General info from a GP's perspective is available here.

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Extended

Opening Hours:

 

Mon - Thurs

8.00am - 7.00pm

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Friday

8.00am - 6.00pm

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Sat & Pub Hols

9.00am - 1.00pm

 

 

 

RECOMMENDED LINKS

 

• HealthDirect - comprehensive Aust Govt self-help website, with clever symptom checker.

 

• General info sheets - simple, practical 1-2 page information sheets on hundreds of common conditions we see.

 

• Kids' health info - info sheets from the Royal Children's Hospital.

 

• Video Doctor - short video explanations and advice from a family GP about many common problems of the body and mind.

 

• Health& - animated videos explaining over 400 different conditions.

 

• DermNetNZ - detailed information about a huge range of skin problems.

 

• MoodGym and eCouch - do-it-yourself therapy for depression, anxiety and more that works.

 

• 'How not to die' - medicine's best kept secret!

 

• ... and how to solve the biggest existential threat to health of all - a huge team of Australian experts have donated their expertise to make a masterplan for a zero carbon Australia, to deal with climate change.