General pieces about how the body works, what I see often, and what the research does and does not support. Clinic hours and closures.
Never a patient. Not with a changed name, not anonymised, not as "someone I saw this week". What happens in that room does not become content.
I get these weekly and I understand why — it is free, it is quick, and you are not sure it is worth an appointment.
But I cannot do it honestly. My first appointment is an hour of questions and an examination because that is what it takes to say something useful. A reply typed on a phone, without any of that, would be a guess with my name attached — and you might act on it.
So the answer is always: ring, and I will tell you on the phone whether it is worth an appointment at all. That part is free.
Not by message. They get missed, and an appointment nobody wrote down does not exist.
They are public and they stay public. I remove them when I see them, and I am not being difficult: people tell me things in comments they would lower their voice to say in the room.
I am not watching these at night. 000 in an emergency, or healthdirect on 1800 022 222 at any hour.
