NEWS
STAY INFORMED
At Stratford Medical Centre, we are committed to providing thorough, personal and high-quality care — not rushed consultations.
While bulk billing may seem appealing, it often leads to short, high-volume appointments that don’t allow enough time to properly address your health needs, especially for chronic or complex conditions.
From 1 November 2025, dedicated mental health plan review item numbers will be removed from the MBS, and several chronic disease items have been reduced. Unfortunately, this will increase out-of-pocket costs for many patients.
If you’re concerned about how these changes may affect your access to care, please email Matt.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au to share your feedback.
Our team will continue doing everything possible to keep fees affordable while providing safe, comprehensive and sustainable care.
Mel’s mysteries shed light on family secrets
Mel Dunstan says one of her fondest memories is sitting around the dinner table at Christmas, discussing lost relatives that her grandfather found while researching her family free. She’s watched her mother and grandfather complete many branches on that family tree,...
Dave’s long road to faith and finding a miracle
Australians of all ages and backgrounds become homeless. In Cairns, more than 2000 people sleep on the streets every night, and across the country, that figure is more than 100,000. They are men, women and children from cities, country towns and suburbs we live in....
Australia set for new 10-year health plan
Minister for Health Greg Hunt says smoking and mental health will be target areas By AAP Fewer than one in 10 Australians will smoke in five years time if the Morrison Government has its way. The nation will also soon have a strategy for improving the mental...
No home cooked meals for former chef
Australians of all ages and backgrounds become homeless. In Cairns, more than 2000 people sleep on the streets every night, and across the country, that figure is more than 100,000. They are men, women and children from cities, country towns and suburbs we live in....
Homeless to Housing
The Tanks Arts Centre launched a new exhibition this week by artists who were homeless. The exhibition, Our Journeys - Homeless to Housing, displays the work of artists with a lived experience of being homeless and tells their stories. The Cairns Homelessness...
First person dies under voluntary euthanasia laws: Here is her story
Kerry Robertson, 61, has become the first terminally ill patient to end their life under Victoria's assisted dying scheme. It emerged on Sunday that she died in a nursing home in Bendigo on 15 July after being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer just over four...
Populist politics, anti-vaxxers and Russian trolls: Why measles is back
By Emily Dunn, Clinical Features Writer for Australian Doctor Group. It’s the most infectious vaccine-preventable disease and it’s sweeping the world. Measles transmission has quadrupled in a year, according to the WHO, with 170 countries reporting 112,163 cases in...
E-cigs aren’t cutting cancer
By AAP Electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products are not helping fight cancer, the WHO says, urging smokers and governments not to trust claims from cigarette firms about their latest products. The seventh WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2019 said...