Coronavirus and Flu Vax Information for All of Our Patients - 3/3/20

To all of our patients,

Heading into the Flu Season and the Coronavirus potentially being an additional challenge for this year, we want to reassure you that we are taking your health seriously. We aim to practise a high standard of infection control, and to do this we require your help.

When you let us know that you may be infectious, we can implement our infection control procedures and focus on reducing the spread of disease within our surgery.

Some common symptoms that may mean you are infectious:

Flu symptoms - a fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, muscle aches.
A rash
Vomiting or diarrhoea

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you may be infectious, and you could transmit this infection to other patients and staff while you are in the practice. Please help us reduce the spread of disease at our practices by letting our receptionists know if you have these symptoms when you book your appointment.

We may ask you to wear a mask, apply alcohol gel to your hands and you may be isolated when waiting for your doctor. Please don’t be offended if we don’t shake your hands to greet you.

Now is also the time to remember that practising good hand hygiene is the best defence against most viruses. You should:

Wash your hands often with soap and water before and after eating as well as after going to the toilet.
If unwell, avoid contact with others (including touching, kissing, hugging, and other intimate contact).
Cough and sneeze into a tissue and dispose of it after use, or use your elbow if a tissue is not available.
Avoid touching your mouth or face if you have not followed good hand hygiene procedures.

At this time, we are also asking all of our patients to let us know in advance if they have travelled overseas in the past 14 days so that we can implement our infection control procedures as required.

For further information, we have attached details about the Coronavirus provided by the Department of Health. Click here to view this. If you have any questions please call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080 and more information is available at https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov.

Lastly, at this stage we have not had confirmation on when we will be receiving our flu vaccinations. We are expecting that they should be available by the end of April. Once we receive confirmation we will begin taking bookings.

We appreciate your help in assisting us reduce the spread of disease in our practices and helping us keep you healthy.

The East Adelaide Healthcare Team