The Grange Family Medical Centre
Port Macquarie General Practitioners
Meet Dr Melwin Nelapati! He is our new General Practitioner at The Grange Family Medical Centre.
Melwin is a local boy – he grew up down the road in Lake Cathie and attended SCAS in Port Macquarie. After a few years away in Sydney, he was lucky enough to return home and complete his training at the UNSW Rural Clinical School. Over the last few years, Melwin has been working at Port Macquarie Base Hospital, Royal North Shore Hospital and out west at Bourke and Parkes.
Three things about Melwin –
Melwin’s favourite holiday destination is Paris! The food, wine, art and culture are amazing. He could spend months on end there and never be bored! His favourite colour is dark blue, and if he were a zoo animal, Melwin thinks he might be a sea otter.
Flu Season is coming!❄️
We will be running a Free Flu Clinic for our patients who are 65 years of age or over. The clinic will run from Monday 17th April to Thursday 20th April between 8:30am and 10:00am each day.
Please call us on (02) 6584 5244 to book in.
Doctors of The Grange Family Medical Centre will be charging a fee for all regular
consultations. This includes consultations for pension and health care card holders less than 75 years of age.
Unfortunately, the costs of healthcare have significantly exceeded the Medicare rebate that the government provides.
As such we can no longer accept the Medicare rebate as the sole payment for your consult.
Please read this article by RACGP which describes the decline in bulk billing clinics in Australia.
We will continue to bulk bill:
· children under 16 years of age
· DVA patients
· Palliative care patients
· Nurse consults such as immunisations
Patients who are >75 years of age who hold a pension or heathcare card and have participated in a health assessment will be charged a private consult fee for
the first consultation of the year. Subsequent consultations for the remainder of the year will be bulk billed. This does not include skin checks which will still have a private charge.
Patients who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and hold a pension or healthcare card will be charged the first private consult for for the first consultation of the year. Subsequent consultations for the remainder of the year will be bulk billed. This does not include skin checks which will still have a private charge.
Patients who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Straight Islander and do not hold a pension or healthcare card will be charged the reduced rate per consultation.
You will be required to pay the full amount of the visit at the time of your consult and reception staff will transmit to
Medicare and your rebate should appear in your bank account within 24 hours.
We appreciate that some patients may feel that this is unfair. We agree that the current Medicare rebates for your
healthcare are unfair, but to continue to provide you with high quality healthcare we have been forced to charge a
higher fee than your Medicare rebate.
Standard | Long | Extended | Telehealth | |
| <20 Minutes | < 40 Minutes | > 40 Minutes | ||
Private Fee | $80.00 | $115.00 | $150.00 | $80.00 |
| Out of Pocket | $40.25 | $38.05 | $36.70 | $40.25 |
Pension/HCC Fee | $65.00 | $100.00 | $135.00 | $65.00 |
| Out of Pocket | $25.25 | $23.05 | $23.70 | $25.25 |
Merry Christmas from the team at The Grange Family Medical Centre! We wish you a happy, safe and healthy Christmas and New Years!
We will be closed from the 25th December 2022 until the 2nd January 2023. We will re-open on Tuesday, 3rd January 2023 at 8:00am.
If you become covid positive and are over the age of 70 years, or over the age of 50 years with chronic medical illness, you may be eligible for covid antivirals. Please phone Care in the Community on 6589 2515, or Healthy North Coast GP telehealth on 1800 931 158 to access medical assistance.
For medical emergencies, please present to the Emergency Department at the Port Macquarie Base Hospital.
ATAGI recommends an additional booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine to increase vaccine protection before winter for selected population groups who are at greatest risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and who have received their primary vaccination and first booster dose. These groups are:
The additional winter booster dose can be given from 4 months or longer after the person has received their first booster dose, or from 4 months after a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, if infection occurred since the person’s first COVID-19 booster dose.
ATAGI recommends that the rollout of the additional booster dose for these groups starts from April 2022, coinciding with the rollout of the 2022 influenza vaccination program.
Influenza vaccine can be co-administered with the additional booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine. However, if a person is not yet eligible for their additional booster dose, influenza vaccine could be given ahead of the additional booster dose.
| Target group | Recommendation for additional booster dose | Comments/information gaps/next steps |
|---|---|---|
| People aged ≥65 years | Recommended | Recommended from 4 months after the previous booster dose, or from 4 months after previous SARS-CoV-2 infection if this occurred since the previous booster dose. |
| Residents of aged care or disability care facilities | Recommended | Includes people with disability in group residential care facilities. Includes people in residential aged care or disability care who are aged <65 years. Recommended from 4 months after the previous booster dose, or from 4 months after previous SARS-CoV-2 infection if this occurred since the previous booster dose. |
| People who are severely immunocompromised aged ≥16 years | Recommended for people with severe immunocompromise, as defined in the ATAGI statement on use of a 3rd primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine in individuals who are severely immunocompromised | This will be a 5th dose as this group is recommended to receive 3 primary doses. Recommended from 4 months after the previous booster dose, or from 4 months after previous SARS-CoV-2 infection if this occurred since the previous booster dose. |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged ≥50 years | Recommended | Recommended from 4 months after the previous booster dose, or from 4 months after previous SARS-CoV-2 infection if this occurred since the previous booster dose. |
| People aged <65 years with medical conditions that may increase their risk of COVID-19[1] | Not currently recommended. Remains under active consideration | Complete primary schedule. Promote first booster dose, if not already given. ATAGI will continue to evaluate emerging evidence over the coming weeks. |
| Health care, aged care and disability care workers | Complete primary schedule. Promote first booster dose, if not already given. ATAGI will continue to evaluate emerging evidence over the coming weeks. Maximise up to date vaccination of patients under care. | |
| All others aged 16–64 years | Complete primary schedule. Promote first booster dose, if not already given. ATAGI will continue to evaluate emerging evidence over the coming weeks. | |
| All others aged 5–15 years | Complete primary schedule. ATAGI will evaluate emerging evidence over the coming weeks regarding the first booster dose. | |
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We will continue to be a part of your healthcare team and ask that you help us to help you by reading and using this resource I have COVID, the infection. Now what?
If you are unvaccinated, have had only one vaccine, are severely immunocompromised or pregnant, please let us know ASAP (book an urgent telehealth consultation) as there are specific management pathways we may need to facilitate