
PERMANENT GP JOB
General Practitioner Vacancy
Lockridge, Perth
Western Australia (WA)

LOCKRIDGE MEDICAL CENTRE
Lockridge Medical Centre is seeking the services of a fulltime permanent General Practitioner for our medical practice in the Eastern Suburbs of Perth. With a 40 year history of serving the Lockridge Community, robust patient demand and a major expansion in the pipeline, we have plenty to offer an incoming GP.
Lockridge Medical Centre
32 Weddall Road,
Lockridge, WA 6054
POSITION:
Full Time General Practitioner
COMMENCING:
2019 – Flexible with start date
SURGERY WEBSITE:
GOOGLE MAPS:
Click here for a map overview of the surgery.
GOOGLE EARTH:
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SURGERY OVERVIEW
Lockridge Medical Centre opened its doors late 1978 and was originally set up by the University of Western Australia as a teaching practice. The practice remains connected with the University and continues to provide teaching to both under and post graduate students/registrars. The practice is privately owned – ie not corporate.
The practice moved in 1989 to its current location and subleases space within the Lockridge Community Health Centre. The practice is currently in the final stages of negotiating a $1M+ building project with the WA Health Department which will see the practice double in size and provide an opportunity to introduce new services and also improve patient access to quality healthcare within the local community.
Our practice has a strong reputation within the local community but also within the medical community in Western Australia. The practice has been acknowledge/won awards over the years from the RACGP, AGPAL and most recently WAGPET. Natalie Watts, Director, Practice Manager has also won the AAPM practice manager of the year award twice.
The practice has provided training / teaching to a whole generation of doctors (40 years). It is a well-established practice with solid policies and procedures to support employed staff and contractors alike.
SURGERY OWNERSHIP
Lockridge Medical Centre is a privately owned practice, in partnership with one of our doctors.
The practice business structure is set up as a Unit Trust and the current directors/owners would be interested in recruiting a doctor who is looking for an opportunity to join the practice as director/owner and assist in the running of the practice and also benefit in profit distribution.
OUR DOCTORS
Dr Doug Pritchard – known within the University of WA due to research projects/grants and has completed national grants for budget holding research projects.
Dr Barry Fatovich – was responsible for the GPR training program within WA under the RACGP banner and is passionate re training for post and undergraduate students. Barry has also held the role of President of the Diabetes Association in WA. Barry is also involved with Silver Chain and their palliative program and is a GPR supervisor for the practice.
Dr Nadine Perlen – is a practice director is on the board of ACNEM and leads their education committee. Nadine is passionate about nutritional and environmental health. Nadine is a GPR supervisor for the practice and enjoys teaching /training.
Dr Cheryl Koh – overseas trained doctor from the UK, provides contraception procedures within the practice.
SURGERY LAYOUT
The practice is currently leasing a wing within the Health Department’s building. The practice is currently in the final stages of negotiating a $1M+ building project with the WA Health Department which will see the practice double in size and provide an opportunity to introduce new services and also improve patient access to quality healthcare within the local community. The Directors will extend the wing to enable the practice to grow and service the community but also provide a well thought out, comfortable work space for practice staff and contractors.
Our Surgery is currently comprised of 6 consulting rooms, a 2 bed treatment room, a Steri/Disposal Room, a staff room, front desk with capacity for 4 receptionists, separate staff and patient amenities, pathology collection centre, an 80 bay carpark and centrally controlled aircon.
We anticipate our expansion to add an additional 3 consulting rooms, extra nursing room beds and facilities, a larger staff room, waiting areas and reception desks.
SURGERY FACILITIES
Our Consulting Hours are:
Monday – Thursday: 7:30am - 7:30pm
Friday: 7:30am - 6:30pm
Saturday: 8:30am - 1:00pm
We are closed on Sundays and Public holidays.
Our clinic has weekly clinical and admin meetings to ensure the smooth running of the practice. We have 5-6 doctors on duty most days, along with 3-4 nurses and 4-5 reception staff. Our Physiotherapist and Psychologist are available for 3 sessions a week each.
Our appointments are scheduled in 10, 15 or 20 minute blocks, depending on the doctor. Our practice runs a "same day" appointment system. Approximately half of our appointments are set aside for appointments on the day.
Our surgery uses Medtech Evolution for clinical, bookings and billings.
TREATMENT ROOM
Lockridge Medical Centre has a 2 bed treatment room with plans to expand to a 3rd bed.
Our clinical equipment includes the following:
Vaccine Fridge, 2 x Electronic consulting beds, Doppler, LFT, ECG, Emergency Trolley, Oximeter, Oximeter – Paediatric, Ear Syringe, Ability to handle minor trauma, Digital Camera – skin lesions, Dermoscope, Light Source – head, PAP Light Source , Oxygen, Liquid Nitrogen, Auroscope and Steriliser
ADMIN SETUP
Administrative Support
Strong administration / management support team.
3 x Management
11 x Reception
Reception staff
Highly skilled
Medicare Batching
Medical Typing
Scanning & Assigning Correspondence
Private Billing
Phone Management
Abnormal Result Log Management
Register Management – ie overdue patients are identified at their time of booking to assist doctors
Management team
Lockridge Medical Centre is managed by a Business Manager and an Operations Manager.
Both Business & Operation Managers have extensive experience within the medical (general practice) industry. Operations manages doctors day to day concerns and ensures support staff and services are adequate. Also manages payroll for the practice.
Business Manager focuses on leave for clinical staff, budgets, marketing – website, social media, blogs etc and accreditation.
Natalie – Director of Management provides leadership, makes decision on the direction of the practice with Nadine and ensures that all staff and contractors are supported. Natalie has great listening ears and likes to keep the practice innovating so that it remains relevant to the world our community is living in.
Accreditation
The practice is fully accredited. Last accreditation survey was February 2018. Full accreditation granted – no recommendations.
The practice has previously won the AGPAL WA practice of the Year Award
We have recently invested in the new LogiQC software to assist the practice meet the new RACGP standards in a timely and efficient manner.
Computer System
The practice uses a window based system and it is well-supported by Mr Sean Corbin (2C2UIT) who in my opinion provides unrivalled support and knowledge.All consult rooms have a workstation, printer, UPS. Two servers support the practice hardware system. One server is solely for remote access and the other server supports the practice.
The directors are very concerned regarding computer security and significant funds have been invested in products and processes to maintain business and patient security.
Treatment room has two workstations and all administrative and management positions have a dedicated workstation/printer.
The practice uses computerised patient files and participates in the “my health record” - ie the doctors are uploading patient health summaries to their electronic file. I would say that the practice is paperless – all paper correspondence is scanned and assigned to the patient’s electronic file.
NURSING SERVICES
Lockridge Medical Centre's nursing team is made up of two ENs, 4 RNs and one RN Nurse Coordinator. Our nursing team is available for all surgery consulting hours and run clinics in Pap Smears, Chronic Disease Management, Butterfly Clinics and Home Visits. They also assist with SIP Consultations such as Diabetes and Asthma.
ALLIED HEALTH SERVICES
In-House allied health services have been introduced, they are newish: Physiotherapy is available for 3 sessions per week and a Psychologist also 3 sessions per week.
Once the building project is complete the practice will have the capacity to increase allied health services and possibly extend to include visiting specialists.
SPECIALIST SERVICES
At this stage there are no visiting or in-house specialists. This is an area that the practice would like to review.
DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES
An on site pathology service is available – Australian Clinical Labs (ACL).
Whilst we don't have any onsite diagnostic imaging available onsite there are 5 imaging facilities within 10km of the surgery.
OTHER CLINICAL SERVICES
Excisions
Procedures - Iron Infusions, Coil, contraceptive impants.
Nutritional Medicine - Private consults
The practice would like to expand and introduce skin cancer screening/clinics and offer procedural services – ie vasectomy etc when the practice building project is complete and the procedure room is available.
NEARBY MEDICAL FACILITIES
Lockridge Medical Centre is the only medical practice within the suburb of Lockridge. There are three additional surgeries within a 5km radius in neighbouring suburbs.
The nearest public hospital is SJOG Midland Public Hospital (9.8km away). We have an additional 12 hospitals within a 40km radius of the surgery.
PATIENT DEMOGRAPHICS
The practice is located in a lower socio-economic area. This is slowly changing. It is becoming a family suburb. Two doctors who work at the practice speak Croatian/Bosnian so there is a higher number of patients who attend the practice from both Croatia and Bosnia.
Ethnic groups that live within the Lockridge suburb are Australian Indigenous people, Indian and Asian. The most common language spoken is English, however the practice has interpreting services available for patients who do not speak English and the practice website can be translated into any language required.
There is a wide variety of patients that present from families (young children) to professionals, students, working age and of course the retired Australian (which are growing quickly). The practice consults with both white and blue collars.
The medicine can be challenging and difficult at times but very rewarding.


BILLING ARRANGEMENTS
The practice introduced private billing back in 2002. Approximately 75% of our patients are bulk billed.
Our Standard consulting fee is $75.00.
PATIENT DEMAND
Average Appointment - 15 minutes
Average Patients/Hours - 4
Advanced Book Out - The Next Day – due to the unique appointment system which the practice has introduced
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No more than 10 unbooked appts/day – and that is a bad day
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Fully booked usually by early afternoon
The practice usually sees an average 150 patients/day
TOWN/SUBURB FACILITIES
Our town…well it is a suburb of Perth….it is an old suburb that is changing due to the new suburbs that are being developed next door. Lockridge is close to the CBD – 16km away. A significant increase in patient demand is expected as the new suburbs develop further. The practice is located on a local government park complete with pond and fountain. A nice place to enjoy lunch if the weather is right. The Swan Valley and historic Guildford area is only 5-10 minutes drive away – Sundowner centralJ
We have a small shopping centre within 1km of the surgery. Two larger shopping centres can be found within 10km of the surgery.
The larger centres have restaurants, movies, banks, cafes, etc and all the smaller shopping centres above have lovely cafes, grocery stores, banks, etc available to assist in daily chores.
Railway Stations / Public Transport options:
Bassendean Railway Station - 4.6km away
Bus Route No. 342 - 200m to nearest bus stop
TOURIST INFORMATION
Swan Valley is a definite tourist location – due to the high quality wineries, chocolate factories, breweries, family friendly activities such as Super Golf and then there is always the real golf for the enthusiastic or competitive player. There is also a water park along with National Parks that accommodate bush walking, picnics etc.
The practice is located very close to the:
Swan Valley - 3.0km away - which has amazing wineries, breweries and restaurants to
Swan River - Bassendean (4.7km), Guildford (5.7km), Maylands (11.2km) or Bayswater (7.1km)
Lots of boating, canoeing or skiing fun to be had or maybe a lovely picnic on the parklands
Guildford Historic Precinct - 5.5km away – great old Pubs, cafes
National Parks - 20.6km away – John Forrest – bush walking / picnic
Beach - 22.7km away – (Trigg would be the closest) is a little further away
SKILLS OR INTERESTS SOUGHT
Procedure skills would be very attractive and an interest in setting up a skin clinic would also be of interest to the practice.
Teaching skills are important.
The practice is seeking a doctor who will work full time and has significant experience working within the general practice setting.
The practice team is very flexible and able to adjust doctor rosters/diaries as required so that family and work are balanced for all.
CIRCUMSTANCES
The practice has a part time and full time doctor who are going to reduce consulting hours from 2019 and enter semi-retirement. This combined with the new suburbs opening up with 2000-3000 new family homes being built the practice is expecting demand to increase.
CONTRACT TERMS
Contract terms
2 Years with a view to extend
Directorship/Ownership options if the match suits both parties
No On-call
Weekend Roster – flexible roster with one rostered Saturday every 4-5 weeks
Nursing and Home Visits are part of the standard contract – it is not excessive
Rate of Pay:
Guaranteed $150/hour for first three months
60% receipts – includes all Chronic Disease Nurse Clinic income
The percentage is due to the high nursing and administrative support provided to doctors – reduces the time doctors have to spend on the administrative and nursing tasks
Preferred Hours
30 consulting hours/week – minimum
2 x early open sessions – ie first 7:30am
2 x late close sessions – ie last appt 7:30pm
1 x half day
This is totally negotiable/ flexible, practice is willing and able to work with an interested candidate on a roster that suits them as long as the minimum 30 consulting hours is met.
LOCUM TERMS
If a doctor would like to locum prior to making a decision the practice will cover travel (return flights), accommodate and car. Percentage for short locum contract is 70%
CONTACT DETAILS:
Natalie Watts
Lockridge Medical Centre
32 Weddall Road, Lockridge, WA 6054
Phone: 08 6278 2555
Mobile: 0421 833 788
Email: Natalie.watts@lockridgegp.com
Posted: 5th July 2018
Position Reference: DY17075
