"Kerang Medical Clinic"

Dear DisappointedKerang,

Your letter has some very alarming and worrying observations, particularly regarding breach in confidentiality, billing policy, and communication. These matters suggest breaches in legislation, and I would like to speak to you about this preferably in person, and can be contacted on 54509210, or if you would prefer me to contact you my email is ckeogh@kerhosp.vic.gov.au.

I look forward to hearing from you

Kind Regards

Chloe

Dear DisappointedKerang,

My preference would be to have had a discussion with you in person about your comments. However, it is now over a week and I have not had any calls or emails. I would like to respond to some of your comments and invite you still to contact me directly so that I can be sure I have answered your comments.

"High turn over of staff"- we have had a receptionist take maternity leave and finish a little earlier than expected, and a trainee who was on a 12-month traineeship. We have had a GP leave earlier in the year, and a GP join the practice. When GP's take annual leave we usually try to arrange a locum to cover for them. I appreciate that this may seem like a lot of staff movement, but in discussion with the practice manager she considers the practice as having a very regular and reliable staff, a lot of the staff have worked at this practice for a long time.

"Wait times are absurdly long"- again I am not sure if you are meaning a wait time in the clinic waiting room, or a wait time until an appointment. The wait times in the clinic waiting room are audited and average less than 20 minutes. Wait times to see a doctor vary and are usually up to 6 weeks. This is due to the current shortage of doctors in the region.

"I find staff are rude and unhelpful"- this is very disappointing, and the staff do try to be responsive and assist all the patients when needed. I wonder if you could please contact me with exact examples of this, and so I could look into the situation closer.

"Billing"- there is a billing policy, and I am aware that it changed earlier this year. It is a clear policy and again if you could send me your example I am happy to respond to it from an individual perspective. I am wondering if you were comparing two billings, one from before the billing changes and one from after? The changes in billings were advertised for everyone to be aware of at the time.

It is a shame that you do not like the waiting room, as an area to sit in, if you had some suggestions of how it could be more comfortable I am happy to consider these. As it is a waiting room with a number of chairs it is true that you are going to hear other people speaking and their conversations, it is considered a public space, and so this is to be expected. Again, is your expectation of a waiting room something different? If so I would love to hear it.

Regarding peoples appointments getting cancelled... this will occur if a doctor is unwell or unable to attend work. Not once in the last 12 months has a doctor "not shown up". Our doctors are professional people and they are accountable to their work and their patients, however, they too become unwell at times. When they are unwell they always call and tell the reception staff, and our reception staff do their best to reschedule appointments.

I would really like to discuss with you further about unethical practices. I am not interested in rumours, and would like to hear the facts about what you have witnessed or experienced. Our medical practice has a number of auditing processes in place, and the doctors maintain a high level of ongoing medical education to maintain their qualifications. Any breaches in their practice are taken very seriously by the registration board AHPRA. If you would prefer to contact this board directly you can do so to the complaints area:

Completing the form on the AHPRA website www.ahpra.gov.au/About-AHPRA/Complaints.aspx

• Sending a complaint to: The State or Territory Manager AHPRA G.P.O. Box 9958 In your capital city AHPRA encourages all complaints to be submitted in writing.

• By telephone: 1300 419 495

If you believe the breach is by non-medical staff I would welcome a conversation with you to follow up and investigate the matter if it has not been investigated already.

Kind Regards

Chloe