Coronavirus Information

MEAD PATIENTS – AMBER ALERT

Due to the AMBER ALERT issued tonight Mead Medical will convert all current appointments booked until Friday in to a telehealth appointment. You can choose either a phone call or video call. If you feel you need a face to face consultation please discuss with the GP first for triage to determine suitability to attend on site.

ALL BOOKED FLU OR COVID IMMUNISATION APPOINTMENTS WILL CONTINUE DURING ANY LOCKDOWN PHASES.

Any patient with cold or flu symptoms will be sent for COVID testing.

If you do attend on site only booked patient and carer if necessary will be able to enter.

MASKS will be mandatory. If you have a mask exemption you will only be able to access telehealth consultations.

Please note that for some months we have been absolutely overwhelmed with phone calls, this has resulted in extensive wait times. You can book appointments online via HOTDOC or our website.

If you have a NON urgent queries you are able to email them to admin@meadmedical.com.au. Please note this will not be in place of a consultation with your GP.

Mead Medical has now been allocated Pfizer stock for both Forrestfield and Kalamunda sites. Sessions should commence at the end of July, you will need to meet the eligibility criteria to obtain the Pfizer immunisation and will be allocated your second appointment at the time of your first.

You will be able to book your Pfizer immunisation via HOTDOC or website. We will post on Facebook and website when session dates have been confirmed. CALLS WILL HAVE LONG WAITS.

Stay safe everyone.

Mead Medical is committed to providing essential services in frontline healthcare to the local and wider community in a direct response to the current Coronavirus Pandemic and we can all help you with all your other healthcare needs as well. We welcome new patients, expecting mums and people from all walks of life and can offer face to face consults as well as both telehealth and videohealth consults.

We take the security and safety of both our staff and patients very seriously.

We ensure our staff are provided with personal protection equipment (PPE) and training and are updated regularly as we learn more about the emerging situation daily. We have put up new signage regarding the identification of infectious symptoms and have done our best to ensure your waiting time is as safe as possible by reducing the number of people waiting together at any one time and making wait times shorter with a good distance between people waiting. We can also avail an isolation room if necessary and our staff carry out regular, hourly decontamination of all high touch areas in the surgery.

We do all of this to ensure health services continue to be delivered in a safe and timely manner and all of your health needs can be met.

During the pandemic a wide range of medical services are being made available via the telehealth service which enables social distancing and self isolation to be maintained. These appointments can be made via Hotdoc or by telephone. During a telehealth consult your GP of choice will be able to write prescriptions, request pathology, write referrals and issue medical certificates. Telehealth consults are usually bulk billed to most patients.

Due to the significant increase in incoming calls to the surgery currently, you may experience a longer wait time on the phone than usual. We do apologise for this inconvenience and will do our very best to attend to your query in the timeliest manner possible

On arrival to our surgery please be prepared to be accosted by our triage nurse who will as you key questions and then let you know the best place to wait to see your GP be it in our waiting room or your car or our ‘well’ waiting area.

We ask that if you have any symptoms suggestive of a cold or a flu, please do not come down to the surgery in person but please also make a telehealth appointment to discuss what to do next.

All our consults, be it telehealth or face to face consults or video health consults are available during our regular hours Mon-Fri 7:30am-8pm and 8-5pm on weekends and public holidays.

Corona Virus Myth Busters!

1. Are hand dryers effective in killing the virus?
   No! To protect yourself against the corona virus you should wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use an alcohol based hand gel and dry your hands thoroughly using either paper towel or a hand dryer.

2. Can spraying alcohol or chlorine all over your body kill the coronavirus?
   No! Spraying your body with alcohol or chlorine will not kill a virus that has already entered your body. Both alcohol and chlorine can be used to disinfect surfaces but must be used appropriately

3. Can pets at home such as dogs and cats spread the new coronavirus?
   No! Currently there is no evidence this is possible. However the current advice does indicate it is a good idea to wash your hands thoroughly after playing with your pets to protect yourself against passing bacteria such as E Coli and Salmonella between pets and humans.

4. Does the new coronavirus affect older people or are younger people also susceptible?
   People of all ages are susceptible to the coronavirus but older people with other chronic diseases tend to suffer more and become more ill.

5. Can antibiotics treat the new coronavirus?
   No! Antibiotics do not work against viruses. But if you are hospitalised with coronavirus you may receive antibiotics to prevent developing a super-imposed bacterial infection.

USEFUL INFORMATION