Colchester Medical Centre

08/06/2024

Thank you for your vote of confidence as per the survey.

23/05/2024

At last! The unnecessary $4.5m on-road trial of medicinal cannabis users, to be conducted by Swinburne University, will start in September this year. When it is completed the Victorian Government will fooster for a year or two. They may or may not ever release the findings. The final 2022 report on a previous Swinburne study, which showed that Victoria’s roadside screening device is hopeless at detecting the recent use of medicinal cannabis, is still not publicly available. So much for open science in Victoria! Minister Melissa Horne’s paternalistic censorship of the work of Victorian scientists is deplorable.

17/03/2024

Unfortunately, due to doctor shortages (30% of GPs expected to retire within 5 years and few medical graduates entering general practice), lack of government support, and indeed working against small business in general but Medicare billing in particular, Knoxfield Medical Centre will be closing on 31st May 2024 after over 37 years of operation. We will be consolidating into Colchester Medical Centre with business continuing with face to face and telehealth consultations.

16/12/2023

Colchester Medical Centre will be closed Saturday 30th December 2023 due to the doctor shortage with no-one setting themselves for this day. Knoxfield Medical Centre will also be closed Friday 29th December 2023.

24/08/2023

Stop the sick tax
The government is imposing a new ‘sick tax’ on your general practice that means your GP will need to stop bulk billing you, increase fees or close the practice. With an inability to get doctors, we may not be able to provide the current level of service. We are already closing clinics early on some days when doctors are unavailable.

The RACGP is doing all it can to exempt the earnings of contractor GPs from the payroll tax

30/06/2023

In the state of Washington, where cannabis is legal:
- tax revenue totaled $395 million USD in 2019
- 243,000 full time jobs were supported by the cannabis industry in 2020.4
While in Australia, law enforcement costs related to cannabis came to $2.4 billion in 2015-16.5
The illegal cannabis market also funds organised crime networks and other criminal activity.6
Under a legal model, part of the revenue could go toward supporting public services instead.

Many places overseas are legalising cannabis, including Canada, 21 states in the USA, Thailand, and Uruguay. But what does this mean, and what are the impacts so far?

07/05/2023

We regret these changes but it is an economic necessity due to rising costs and 10 years of frozen Medicare rebates, as well as a shortage of staff. Fees will be increasing on 1st July and Telehealth consultations will be billed as for face-to-face visits (no longer universally bulk-billed). We are still very competitive and sympathetic to our patients. Please visit our website or call for more information.

19/04/2023