New clinic and elective surgery service starting at Hamilton Base Hospital
October 2013
In an exciting initiative, Hamilton Base Hospital has enlisted Dr Tan to provide a visiting neurosurgery service consisting of a monthly outpatient clinic and elective spinal and peripheral nerve surgery list. This service is made possible through the vision, support and enthusiasm of Hamilton Base Hospital and its medical staff. Victorians in Hamilton and the surrounding regions will potentially be spared the long and stressful trip to Melbourne or Adelaide to see a neurosurgeon and/or have their spinal surgery. As this is a new service, only the less complex spinal surgery will be offered and only for those patients who are relatively fit and well.
Have a safe and enjoyable festive season
December 2012
Well here we are at the end of another year. It’s been a year of growth for this practice, thanks to positive word-of-mouth from my wonderful patients. This year I have even treat new patients from New Zealand, Africa and Mauritius! With the availability of video conference consultations, I am even more accessible to patients living in remote areas of Victoria, Australia and the world. As Christmas is just around the corner, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my patients and their dear ones a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season and all the best for the New Year! Drive safely if you are going to hit the roads. For those who might need me over the holidays, you can readily contact me as usual by telephone or email.
*NEW* Telehealth consultations can be arranged
TELEHEALTH BRINGS DR TAN INTO YOUR HOME
October 2012
As we approach the end of another year, we have been kept very busy by patients who are hoping to get their surgery out of the way before Christmas! Just quickly, here is some important news for those of my patients who live outside inner Melbourne. Have you heard of Telehealth? In broad terms, Telehealth is the use of telecommunication tools to facilitate healthcare. Medicare Australia started its own Telehealth initiative over a year ago to encourage medical specialists to hold video consultations with their patients in remote, regional and outer metropolitan areas of Australia. In practical terms, it means that if you live more than 15 km away from my main rooms in Carlton, then you could hold a video consultation with me from your home, using nothing more than your personal computer, a web camera (this is a standard built-in feature of many computers now), a good internet connection and the freely available Skype software application. Many people already keep in touch with family and friends in remote places using exactly the same technology. Telehealth will not completely eliminate the need for country people to travel to Melbourne to see me, especially if you end up needing surgery or other procedures to be performed, because I will need to actually lay my hands on you at some stage, but it could greatly reduce the need for you to travel, especially if you live a long way from inner city Melbourne. You could also get a much earlier appointment with me. An added bonus of less travelling is reduced carbon emissions and therefore the environment wins too! If you are interested in arranging a video consultation with me, please let my secretary Judith know. We will have to hold a test video link-up and sort out other issues before the consultation can go ahead.
Easter greetings
April 2012
We are already into the second quarter of the year and I have finally managed to find the time to sit down and share news of my practice. I am fortunate indeed that so many of my patients are spreading good words about my work and I am getting more referrals than ever. I even had patients coming from Sydney and Adelaide last month. The Portland clinic has been a runaway success. I am now staying overnight in Portland in order to see more patients. So I have beein working a lot harder this year but I have such lovely patients that I don’t mind at all.
Thankfully Melbourne City Council has finished excavating the road outside my main office in Carlton. New signage will be erected this week on the suggestion of an ambulance officer and so after this week, the office will be clearly visible from the other side of the street.
I hope all my paitents have a safe and happy Easter. Please be informed, Judith and I will be available during these holidays, if you need urgent neurosurgical attention.
New Year, New clinic
January 2012
Happy New Year to all my patients and colleagues!
Next week I will be in Portland for my first Otway clinic. It is booked out and we are now filling up the next clinic in February.
I will be away for a fortnight later this month to celebrate Chinese New Year with my grandmother and other relatives overseas. It will be the first time I have been back to spend Chinese New Year with my extended family in nearly twenty years! Judith will be available three days a week to take telephone calls and you can still contact us by email at any time while I am away.
Otway clinic commencing in 2012
December 2011
Plans to commence an Otway neurosurgery clinic on 9 January 2012 are just in the process of being finalised. This clinic will run approximately once a month from David Walker’s rooms in Portland and it is anticipated that it will provide a long overdue and much-needed service in the region. The clinic will also complement my teaching appointment with Deakin University and I hope to welcome medical students there one day soon. Prospective patients can start making appointments with my secretary Judith.