Doctor’s commitment a boon for older patients
A consultant specialist physician who moved to the Northern Rivers a year ago is resisting pressures from former patients and colleagues to return to Sydney.
The city’s loss is our region’s gain, as Dr Allison Semmonds settles in to serving the community in the Northern Rivers and Far North Coast.
Dr Semmonds' areas of interest are in general geriatrics, perioperative medicine, delirium, dementia, falls, osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease in the elderly and avoiding polypharmacy.
She completed advanced training in Geriatrics in Concord RGH and RPAH and then worked in private practice for six years as a General Physician and Geriatrician at the Sydney Adventist Hospital.
She has admitting rights to St Vincents Private Hospital and a clinic at the hospital which is open to new patients with a referral from their GP or specialist. Referrals from GPs should stipulate where appropriate the request for "a general geriatric assessment" with the specific issue/s to be addressed.
Patients need to bring an up to date medication list or copy of latest WebsterPak and any recent relevant x-rays or scans. Dr Semmonds cannot make safe medication recommendations where required without the latest medication list from the patient themselves.
Conditions suitable to be referred are preoperative assessments and geriatric syndromes as priorities and general medical patients where there is clinic availability.
Dr Semmonds as a rule does not do medicolegal reports, workers compensation reports, capacity assessments for wills and other legal matters, or immigration
The clinic is not a bulk billing practice but Veterans are not charged above DVA rebates.
