Dr Sue English

https://sport.optus.com.au/womens-world-cup-2023/videos/os60113/os60113-watch-welcome-to-country-at-stadium-australia

For those interested here is the Welcome to country from last nights FIFA event. Those of you watching the Channel 7 coverage woukd not have seen it in full as the commentators were talking right through it. As a result of that lack of respect and negligence Optus have provided this at no cost to us all. Thankyou. Stunning, moving, soulful are a few words to describe this ritual.

Watch: Welcome to Country at Stadium Australia Watch the beautiful scenes from the Matildas opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™.

Warning- Foodie Post.
It was a privilege to dine at Michelin starred Feitoria in Belum, Lisboa tonight.
Learnt a lot about local wines , as we have over the past few weeks- our repertoire has certainly been expanded.
Biggest challenge- eating Codfish swim bladder !!

Hi my beautiful patients and friends,
I’m just giving you a heads up about my availability over Winter.
March- Arpril- I am working extra hours all weeks on Wed and Thursdays.
Flu vaccines are available at present for those travelling OS and those most vulnerable.
Regular availability will be from late April.

I will be on leave 4/5/23 to 14/6/23
And ………………….15/7/23 to 14/8/23.

I will not be accepting any new patients between May to September so I can look after my regular patients when I am here working.

PLEASE think about planning appointments over this time so I am able to meet your needs.

While I am on leave, there are wonderful doctors at our clinic at Brighton Family and Womens Clinic who can meet your needs.
While I am on leave, I will be checking my emails and will respond where I can but PLEASE make appts and ask for scripts, path tests etc through HOTDOC and Reception as I wont have access for this overseas or in the outback.

Sue

Beautiful Kauai. Glorious beaches, 28degC.

I’ll be on holidays for 1 week commencing 26/3/2022

Well, I’m back from 2 weeks in Tasmania. Being my first real holiday away from home in 12 months it felt a lot longer.

Now we are back in some sort of state of normality I am very happy and excited to say that I am back teaching medical students!.

This is a first for my time at Brighton FWC and I will be teaching and mentoring a 1st year medical student every 2nd Thursday starting 10th March, for the rest of this year.

As a doctor with over 40 years (OMG yes it has been that long!) experience I know I have a lot to offer and the way to develop good doctors is to give them exposure at an early stage in their career to real patients with real problems.
We need more great compassionate GPs in Australia, and not lose them to the hospitals and specialist training.
I hope you will be happy, when you come for appointments on the days she is here, to have her sit in on our consultations and learn.
This of course is not compulsory and if you feel too uncomfortable, then make sure to let me know, not as issue at all !

Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Sue

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I will be working through the “Silly season” and school holidays,every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday except for public holidays.
Also Saturdays 8/1 and 15/1.

I will be on holidays from 19th February for 2 weeks.

We are performing Covid vaccinations and Boosters, please go to HotDoc on our website at Brighton Family and Womens Clinic to book.
I’m about to have my booster on 29th December.

I hope you all get some special time with your families, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.
Lets hope and pray that 2022 brings us joy, good health, happiness and peace.
Sue x

Hi Everyone,
Aldi is selling Visage BP machines for $34.99 on sale from 21st August.
I use one of these on home visits and its suitable for hom,e BP monitoring.

Hope you are all well during these challenging times. WE are still seeing patients face to face but also by tele and videoconference.
Its really easy to set up and our reception staff will navigate you through it.

We are happy to take any questions about Covid and other vaccinations, please consider getting vaccinated as soon as possible, its the way out of lockdown.

Thought I would share this with you all. You all know I don’t like to run late, but if I am, then there is usually a very good reason. Sometimes it also might be because the morning has been very busy and I just need a 5 min break to reset mentally so I can be my best for you.
Thankyou for your understanding and patience when this happens
Sue

www.childrenfirstfoundation.org.au
Tomorrow night I am MCing our 2021 Medical Oration with Professor Minoo Patel.
6-7 pm on Zoom
Free event
Register on our website below.

Give Small Lives Big Hope | Children First Foundation Children First Foundation has been facilitating life-changing, sometimes life-saving surgery in Australia for disadvantaged children since 1999.

Receiving my OAM at Government House on Tuesday with my family.

What a lovely welcome back to work. Thankyou BFWC for the beautiful flowers.
Working Tues, Wed, Thursday and Saturday this week.
Week starting 8/2 working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Having trouble getting an appt online? Ring reception and let them know you would like to see me . I’ll do my best to organise an appt for you.
Have a lovely week,
Sue

Feeling very humbled and honoured to receive the Medal of Order of Australia on Australia Day, recognising my work for the Children of East Timor, contribution to medicine and to Women.

Good morning , I’m officially on holidays for 2 weeks.
I’m back at work 2nd February working Tues, Wed ang Thurs.
Keep safe and look forward to seeing you soon .
Sue

Wishing everyone a very happy new year for 2021. Please keep safe and well and connected to family and friends.
CoVid restrictions have changed again.
15 only at home
Masks everywhere inside except at home.

I’m working
January 2-14 th including Sat 2 Nd and 9 th
Feb 1-12 th
March 1-7th then back to normal March 13 th.

Cheers
Sue

My hours for September:
Week commencing 31/8: Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri
Week commencing7/9. Tues, Wed Thurs
Week commencing 14/9: Tues, Wed, Thurs,
Week commencing 21/9: Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat
Week commencing 28/9: Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat

Attention all New Mums:

We are available at the clinic for

Any check ups
Baby weighs
Childhood immunizations
Breastfeeding advice
Tongue tie management
Counseling for any mental health concerns

Face to face and telehealth.

Happy Spring everyone!
As we move into better weather and hopefully the end of stage 4 lockdown, we look forward to a slightly more relaxed environment and hopefully less distress.
I know a lot of my patients have been “hunkered down” since March and there has been a definite lack of people coming in for their regular checks.
Health assessments, Pap smears, skin checks, routine follow up mammograms, blood tests, colonoscopies have all been put on hold.

Please keep an eye on your Preventitive health, and once you feel comfortable, book your appointments.
At the clinic we are doing lots of telehealth but also face to face appointments. Those who feel vulnerable, think about making a late appointment as there are a lot fewer people in the building after 5 pm.
At present we are closing at 6 pm but I’ll let you know as soon as we are extending those hours back to 8 pm.
There are some Covid testing sites locally- Sandringham Hospital has a walk in testing site, Springers in Keysborough has a drive through site. There are some local pathology Covid testing sites as well- you need a referral for these, but we can easily do this for you.

There’s a new local Covid testing centre- Sandringham hospital car park 7 days a week.

Coming... Covid Testing at home for vulnerable patients who have respiratory symptoms and cannot get to a testing centre. You will need a GP referral emailed to you, so if this applies to you, book a telehealth appointment.

Ready to Serve

Hi all,
A few updates for Stage 4 lockdown :
I will be working through August as follows:
This week- Tues, Wed, Thurs
Week commencing 10/8: I’m having a week off ( not to go anywhere, mind you, but it’s important we all have some down time to look after our mental and physical health. Ive just started a new online fitness program every day, walking my 1 hour per day, experimenting with sourdough and making cheese).
Week commencing 17/8
Tues, Wed ,Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Week commencing 24/8
Tues, Wed, Thursday.

As of next week the clinic is closing at 6 pm for the next 6 weeks.
This is to take some pressure off all our staff but still provide an excellent caring medical service to our community.

The Govt has increased GP Mental health plan from 10 to 20 visits per year to help support everyone during this stressful and devastating time in our community. Please reach out if I can help. GP mental health and RV can be either face 2 face or telehealth appointments.

Be safe, take care and dont delay your medical care. We are only a phone call away.

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/covid-19-and-expectant-mothers-assume-this-is-dang

Good article about Covid and Pregnant women.
Tips:
Book first appointment of the day, or a late appointment to minimize your exposure to others in the clinic.
Wear a mask when you are out and about anywhere inside a building or public transport or taxi.
Keep in contact with your doctor.
Until 30/9 you are entitled to bulk billed telehealth with your doctor.

COVID-19 and expectant mothers: ‘Assume this is dangerous to her and her child’ As case numbers in Australia reach record highs, concerning statistics have emerged from the US regarding higher rates of ICU admission in pregnant women with coronavirus. But crucial data gaps…

Do I really need to get my family tested every time we have a runny nose this winter? So your child has a runny nose for the third time this month and you're exhausted by just the thought of getting the whole family tested and going into isolation again. Is it excessive to get tested for COVID-19 at every cough or sneeze? Or more important than ever?

Hi everyone here are the days I’m working in July:
Week commencing 29/6.. everyday except Sat and Sunday

Week commencing 5/7... Tuesday, Wed, Thurs, Friday, Saturday.
Week commencing 13/7... Tuesday, Wed, Thursday,
Week commencing 20/7... Tuesday, Wed, Thursday
Week commencing 27/7... Tuesday, Wed, thurs, Friday.

Really enjoying this beautiful Winter weather.

This Wednesday 1st July 6-7 pm Free Webinar
Dr David Chong, craniofacial plastic surgeon is giving a medical oration on his career into Humanitarian medicine and the children he has treated.
I’m doing the wrap up, speaking about what we have been doing at Children First Foundation during Covid .
All our fundraising events have been cancelled this year, and we still have 33 children in the pipeline waiting for treatment and assessment overseas.
We have 6 children at the retreat either in rehab or waiting for surgery.
All children in Australia have access to Medicare. These children are from developing countries and have access to nothing.
Please register and watch if you can.
Register through
www.childrenfirstfoundation.org.au

Give Small Lives Big Hope | Children First Foundation Children First Foundation has been facilitating life-changing, sometimes life-saving surgery in Australia for disadvantaged children since 1999.

Latest influenza figures from RACGP.
By this time last year there were 30,567 cases of Influenza in Australia.
This year there are 208 cases. That’s a drop of 99% !!!!
Social distancing and hand hygiene works.

For those of you who feel they really need to go to today’s rally to support the call against black deaths in custody, please consider your social distancing.
Wear a mask and gloves and stay away from people who are yelling, singing, chanting or sneezing as all of these greatly increase the transmission not just of Corona virus but also other viruses.

Take care, my community.
And if you do develop symptoms, please get Covid tested and call for a telephone consultation first so you can be properly assessed.

Days working for June:
Week commencing 1/6 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Week commencing 8/6 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Week commencing 15/6 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week commencing 22/6 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week commencing 29/6 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Small Human trials are commencing in Australia for a Coronavirus vaccine, similar in development to the HPV and Shingles vaccine.
This is only phase 1, but it’s a promising start.

Keep warm everyone and keep safe.

Life at the clinic is getting busier. More people are coming out to have face to face consultations and our clinic will be opening again in the evenings as well from June 9 as a trial to see if the demand is there with more going back to school and work.
We are getting an examination room Pod this week for all respiratory infection cases, so we can safely see patients in a private and warm environment without any risk inside the clinic.

We still have plenty of flu vaccine for those who still haven’t had it.

Please continue to have your regular checks. If you are concerned about coming to the clinic or anything you might need, I am always available for telephone consultation. Just book through reception on 95165100 or hotdoc app.

https://www.facebook.com/132597330115259/posts/3819388768102745/

This amazing lady is Sue, one of our Board members (all of who undertake their roles on a voluntary basis). Sue first got involved with us when she began helping a young woman from Timor Leste who had severe spinal issues get the necessary surgery and treatment in Melbourne.

Helping Margarita changed Sue's life forever: “At 13 years of age, this young lady had the courage to look me in the eye and say “yes, I would like you to try to help me”. I figured, that, if she had that courage, I had no choice but to advocate for her. It has changed her life, but it has also changed mine. She has taught me that anything is possible, you just have to say “yes” instead of “no”. This is the story of all our children, and it is this passion for advocacy for change that keeps me working and volunteering.” ♥️

Read more about Sue and her experiences of volunteering with us https://bit.ly/3cYFIBf

Days working:
Week commencing 27/4: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Week commencing 4/5: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week commencing 11/5: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Week commencing 18/5: I’m having a week off !!!
Week commencing 25/5: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Week commencing 1/6: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

We are closing at 6 pm for the present each night.
If you are having trouble getting to the clinic, or would prefer not to go out, please book a phone consultation which now has a Medicare rebate for everybody. At risk and vulnerable patients may qualify for bulk billed phone and video consults.