AMA VICDOC Summer 2024 - Magazine - Page 36
M E L I SSA
LISA
I'M PROUD OF THE WORK WE DO AND THINK
ANDREW PLACE CLINIC IS A WONDERFUL
PLACE TO WORK.
THE CLINIC STARTED OFF AS A TRUE FAMILY
PRACTICE, AND IT'S GROWN TO INCLUDE
A LOT OF PRACTITIONERS.
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Andrew Place Clinic is a busy community
practice that operates over two locations,
in Bundoora and Mill Park. It opened
in 1971, initially as a solo practice.
It has grown into a very busy community
practice with 20 doctors and seven nurses.
Training new registrars is an important
part of our work, and all six principals
are actively involved in mentoring and
training GP registrars. Most GP registrars
have come from a hospital environment
where they may not have enjoyed their
work or felt like they were treated
especially well. Then they land here
and experience what being a GP is
meant to be like – and they stay.
WE TAKE A LOT OF PRIDE IN OFFERING
AN INCLUSIVE, CARING AND
SUPPORTIVE WORKPLACE.
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Andrew Place is owned by six GPs, four
women (including me), and two men.
We are continuously looking for ways to
keep our skills and practice current and
offer the healthcare our community needs.
We are a strong and tight knit team who
weathered Covid together and came out
even stronger and ready to meet the next
challenge. I think it's easy for a GP to
feel downhearted and negative. At a team
level, at a day-to-day level, we can make
coming to work as fun and supported as
possible and make work as good a place
as possible to be for everyone.
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But at the core, we're still really focused
on a family practice model, offering family
medicine and primary care. I think that
that's a real success of ours. One of the
original founders of the clinic, Dr Giuseppe
( Joe) Giarrusso, passed recently and it was
like losing a member of the family. An
amazing number of patients and former
and current staff attended his funeral, and
that's a real testament to who he was and
what the clinic is. So, despite us being a
very large clinic we still retain those small
family practice foundations and roots,
which is important to us.
IN AUGUST 2022 WE EXPANDED OUR SERVICES
INTO A SECOND CLINIC, SO WE NOW OFFER
CARE IN BUNDOORA AND MILL PARK.
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The second clinic serves a completely
different demographic, which is interesting.
All the partners work across both sites, and
most of our registrars too. From a training
perspective, that's a positive thing because
it's going to expose doctors to a different
clinical experience. Managing two clinics
takes a lot of hard work. When it comes to
decision making, no one has a majority say.
We make sure each voice is heard. It also
takes a great team around us.
