On 9 August 2023, Mead Medical discovered that an unauthorised third party had gained access to Mead Medical’s administration mailbox (Mailbox Incident) and sent spam emails to some of our valued patients. Specialist forensic IT experts were immediately engaged to remove the unauthorised access and to investigate what happened. The investigation revealed that limited personal information for some patients was contained in the mailbox was capable of being accessed by the unauthorised third party. We reached out directly to those patients we deemed as having been impacted in late 2023. As some potentially impacted patients may not have received notice of the Mailbox Incident, this website notice about the Mailbox Incident is made out of an abundance of caution and only intended for patients of Mead Medical between March to August 2023, who have not been contacted by us.

The impacted mailbox is used for exchanging emails about consultations and appointments, and to exchange patient information with other health service providers where necessary. To date, we have no evidence that personal information from the Impacted Mailbox has been published, downloaded or used maliciously. The following categories of personal information were capable of being accessed, only where this information was contained in emails:

Contact details
Health information
Government reference numbers, e.g. Medicare number, Centrelink reference number
ID documents, e.g. license numbers

What has Mead Medical done in response?

In response to the Incident, we have implemented a number of measures to prevent reoccurrence including:

upgrading our security protections to our email environments;
enhancing our security frameworks and policies; and
following the advice of specialist forensic IT experts to improve security based on the latest trends.

What should patients do?

We set out below some recommendations to limit the potential impact of the breach:

In order to protect yourself from potential scams, please be alert for suspicious calls, email and text messages purporting to come from Mead Medical.
regularly change your passwords and security questions & answers for accounts containing personal information;
do not click on links or download file attachments when an email or text message appears suspicious;
do not reply to email or text messages requesting your personal information;
beware of cold callers falsely claiming to be from authorities or businesses that ask you for your personal information;
If concerned about the security of your Medicare or Centrelink account, please visit servicesaustralia.gov.au/databreach for more information on how you can protect your personal information after a data breach.
If concerned about identity information, contact the issuer (e.g. for licenses, contact the department of transport)
obtain a free credit report to identify whether there is any suspicious activity against your credit history (for example, Equifax credit reports are available at https://www.equifax.com.au/personal/products/credit-and-identity-products); and
you can find further information about online safety, cyber security and helpful tips to protect yourself at the Australian Cyber Security Centre or the ACCC’s Scam watch website.

We apologise for any distress the Incident may cause you. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Collean Guest on collean@meadmedical.com.au.

Cyber Incident Notification

Mead Medical is very excited to have Dr Wion Thiart join us from 1st July 2024, Dr Thiart is highly regarded and has been working in the Hills for over 15 years, with a special interest in skin cancer, family medicine, chronic disease, Travel medicine and is fluent in Afrikaans.

As we near the end of another teaching year for our Registrar GPs, we would like to thank our outgoing GPs for their services provided to the Mead community and wish Dr Julia Rawlinson all the very best on her next training leg. We would like to welcome our incoming GPs for 2024, Dr Toby Muia returns as Dr Elizabeth Dernie from maternity leave, and our new additions will be Dr Rachel Collins and Dr Maddy Napier.

This Friday the 26th May will be Dr Elizabeth Dernie’s last day as she commences her maternity leave.

We hope to see her back again in the new year and wish her well with the impending birth of her first baby.

Mead Medical are excited to announce that Dr Emma Vitale will be returning to our family in February.
Emma completed her medical training in WA and worked across a number of hospital specialties before entering general practice.
She is interested in all aspects of general practice, but has particular interest in sexual health and paediatrics. Emma has undertaken additional training in these areas and recently completed a diploma of child health.
When not at work, Emma enjoys hiking in the great outdoors and spending time with her family and pets.

Has your doctor diagnosed you with diabetes? Or do you have high blood glucose levels (high blood sugar?. Whether you are at the beginning of your diabetes journey or have been living with diabetes for a while, a Credentialed Diabetes Educator (CDE) will teach you how to manage your diabetes, they will help you understand what to do so that you can feel your best.

Our Credentialed Diabetes Educator (Registered Nurse) – Pascal Chane-Yin aims to reduce diabetes related burdens and improve patients’ quality of life by empowering them through continuous support and provision of up to date, evidence-based information. I believe that there is a solution to every problem and hope to help my patients find the right solution for their diabetes.

Pascal is available for appointments every Thursday at our Specialist Centre, 37 Elizabeth Road Kalamunda. Book via the Automed App or call us on 9293 4455.

As we bid farewell to our outgoing GP Registrars, Dr Toby Muia, Dr Ibrahim Fleyful and Dr Therese McLaren, we are excited to welcome our 2023 incoming trainees.

Dr Elizabeth Dernie – BSc (Biomedical), MHEcon (Adv), MD

Liz graduated from UWA with a Doctor of Medicine in 2018. Prior to entering medicine, she completed a Bachelor of Science and Masters in Health Economics and worked in public health policy in Canberra.

Liz completed her internship at Fiona Stanley Hospital and spent some time working in Darwin before completing 3 years of obstetric & gynaecology training at King Edward Memorial Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. During this time she completed her advanced Diploma in Obstetrics.

Liz is passionate about women’s health and improving access to these services in rural communities. She is married to a farmer and plans to one day move back to Mukinbudin to become the community GP.

Dr Julia Rawlinson – MD, EMC, MBA, BSc. Hon

Prior to studying medicine at the University of Western Australia, Julia had a career in private industry servicing the mining sector. She spent most of her youth involved in various competitive sporting pursuits and values the role that exercise plays in overall health outcomes.

Since graduating in 2019, Julia has worked in a number of hospitals in WA and undertaken further training in Emergency Medicine completing her Emergency Medicine Certificate through Royal Perth Hospital. Julia was awarded the RPH Surgical intern of the year award in 2020 and has spent time training at Perth Children’s Hospital to further her paediatric knowledge. She is passionate about GP due to the continuity of care and the impact that a positive relationship with a health practitioner can provide.

Julia’s areas of interest include emergency medicine, paediatrics and preventative health. Outside of work Julia is kept busy by her three children and enjoys running, swimming and gardening.

Dr Yan Peng – MD, PhD, DRANZCOG, BSc (Hons)

Yan graduated in UWA with PhD in Biological Sciences then went on to study Medicine in Notre Dame University (Fremantle). After becoming a medical doctor, she worked in various hospital in Western Australia in area of General and Rural Medicine, Emergency, Urology, ENT, Colorectal surgery, Nephrology, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She also obtained a Diploma in Women’s health with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

She is passionate about women’s health, weight loss, mental health, family planning, obstetric care, preventative health, obesity, and skin. She also speaks Mandarin and Cantonese.

Outside of work, she loves spending time with family, friends, and nature, and loves cooking good food and living sustainably by growing her own food.

As 2022 comes to a close it is time for us to farewell this years GP Registrars, Dr Toby Muia, Dr Therese McLaren and Dr Ibrahim Fleyful. Mead Medical prides itself on facilitating a quality training program, ensuring the future of General Practitioners. We may be lucky enough to see the return of any of our Registrar GPs when they have finishing their training program but in the meantime we welcome our Registrars for 2023.

Commencing in January will be Dr Yan Peng, Dr Julia Rawlinson and Dr Elizabeth Dernie. Appointments for our new GPs will be available from January 16th onwards.

We wish our outgoing Registrars all the very best for 2023.

Mead Medical will open every day throughout the Christmas Season with the exception of Christmas Day 25th December. Any public holidays we will be open 8.3oam to 3pm.

In a climate where there is growing need for good health care services and an increasing shortage of quality health care in outer metropolitan and rural areas, we at Mead Medical, pride ourselves in helping to be part of the solution. Mead Medical has a long standing history of teaching Medical & Nursing students as well as GP registrars to help grow the next generation of GPs and health professionals.

Congratulations to Stephanie MacPherson, Mead Medical’s 2022 Jane Talbot Scholarship Recipient

“I have called the Shire of Kalamunda home for 22 years. After completing school locally in the hills, I graduated university as an engineer and then a teacher. Both fields nurtured my desire to work with & help people. In my pre-clinical years I was privileged to work in emergency, surgery and general medicine teams at a Pilbara hospital and gained practical experience.

Whilst both challenging & rewarding, medicine has given me privileged opportunities to be mentored by some highly skilled individuals. One who works at this practise Dr Denis Carragher. An amazing and caring man.

Medicine requires immense dedication, study & focus. The Jane Talbot scholarship will help fund my living (away from home) and tuition throughout my degree. Afterwards I would like to specialise in Emergency, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Geriatrics or General Practise.

I hope to return to this community where I can make a difference.

I wish to sincerely thank Dr Carragher & the Mead Medical Group for your mentoring & support.”