Thoughts, fact sheet and links
Some thoughts and ideas – some for inspiration and some for personal reflection. Please seek medical advice from your own GP.
Payroll tax and why it matters in General Practice
In the last few months I have spoken a great deal about payroll tax. Why is it an issue for General Practices? The answer is financial viability. Most GPs are contractors. Traditionally the payments to GPs from patients have been exempt from payroll tax. A new application of the law means that these payments will…
Exercise as self care
I used to roll my eyes when people talked about their run being ‘their time’. My love-hate relationship with exercise is not something that magically disappeared the first time I put on my running shoes and finished a run. If there has been a gap in consistency I always find it hard to get back…
Feeling (un)social
I am really enjoying podcasts at the moment. I like to listen to them when I am driving to work each day, as a nice break from the news and the forecast for more cold weather when I crave sunshine. I have recently been listening to Dan Harris on his Ten Percent Happier podcast which…
Launching back into exercise
How do I start exercising? We could say ‘just do it’…. but if you have any underlying health conditions please see your GP to discuss starting safely. The best thing about exercise? There are lots of things that you can do without load of equipment, gyms, trainers or money. If you struggle for inspiration print…
Vaccines and consent
Consenting to a treatment, a procedure or a vaccine is a process of weighing up both the risks and benefits of the treatment (be it a vaccine, a surgical procedure, a new medication) and the risks and benefits of not having the treatment. For some treatments this might be a really easy discussion. I have…
Climate change and health
A few weeks ago we had family powerpoint night. Yep, powerpoint night. Five slides, five minutes each with the theme of Climate Change and our home. Each member of the family presented on a topic – transport, fashion, food, power, water and waste. We listened, we laughed a lot. We ate snacks. At the end…
Exercise and our minds
This one is a personal story about change. One morning, about 15 years ago, I was driving into the city and stopped at the red light. I looked over at the car next to me and there was a woman with a huge smile on her face, a number on her arm and a bike…
Making change
The truth is, change is hard. We accumulate knowledge and patterns of behaviour over time (for some of us it can be decades), and reality is that it takes time for change to occur. I was listening to the Brene Brown podcast, Unlocking us, and her interview with the amazing Marc Brackett. As they talked…
Mental health in the medical profession
Sometimes it is hard for us to remember that we are human, and prone to the same mental health challenges that anyone else in the community might face. We are lucky to have colleagues who are willing to share some of their personal experiences dealing with both their own mental health and that of their…
Pandemic and Social Distancing, Quarantine and Mental Health
I assumed that my first post was going to be about one of my passions – starting to lose weight, ways to manage anxiety, adding more exercise into your day. Instead, I find myself thinking about how we manage the COVID-19 outbreak in our community. I understand there is a high level of anxiety, there…
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Dr Kerrie Aust 