A Pap test can save your life.

What is a Pap Smear?

It checks for changes in the cells of your cervix- neck of your uterus / womb.

Changes are due to the HPV virus activity on your cervix.

Sex can introduce this virus to your body which can cause cervical cancer later.

Pap smear can find the earliest signs of cervical cancer.

If caught early, the chance of curing cervical cancer is very high. Treatment can prevent most cases of cervical cancer from developing.

Every woman over 18 years and less than 70 who has ever had sexual contact with male partner / female partner should have regular Pap smears every 2 yearly regardless of vaccination status for prevention of cervical cancer /HPV vaccination.

Women who started sex before the age of 18, multiple sexual partners, partner who had multiple partners, ever had other sexually transmitted infections are at higher risk.

The Pap smear is a simple procedure.

A Pap smear only takes a few minutes.

All the GPs in DMC are well trained to perform Pap smear; it can cause little discomfort but should not cause pain.

So book an appointment without delay for your pap smear which can save your life.

Results of the Pap smear usually it takes 1 week.

Most of the time, test results are normal. There are many reasons for abnormal Pap test results. It usually does not mean you have cancer. So do not panic when you get a phone call from the surgery for a non urgent appointment. Just talk to the GP and he / she will explain more about the results. We do not do this over the phone.

We maintain a recall system in our practice which will remind you the due date of Pap smear.

If you need more details, just talk to your GP or visit: Cancer Screening

Planning Before Pregnancy

The healthier you are as you are planning your pregnancy, the more likely you are to have a healthy baby.

We see every visit of a woman of reproductive age to our practice as an opportunity to plan for pregnancy, or contraception if required.

We give Pre-pregnancy advice as below:

Interim contraception (if needed), nutrition, exercise, weight targets, sexual health, smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, advice regarding necessary vaccinations (prior to or during pregnancy) and PAP smear.

Are you planning for pregnancy and suffering from medical condition such as,

• Epilepsy
• Diabetes
• Congenital or known acquired cardiac disease
• Autoimmune disorders
• Obesity (body mass index greater than 30)
• Severe mental illness- bipolar, schizophrenia

Talk to your GP before you get pregnant we could arrange pre-pregnancy services for you ASAP to prevent future complications.

During Pregnancy

We help guide you through the various stages of your pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.

Confirm pregnancy and expected date of delivery

History and examination

Complete initial routine investigations

• Full blood picture
• Blood group and atypical antibody screen
• Syphilis serology
• Rubella titre
• Hepatitis B surface antigen
• Hepatitis C antibodies
• HIV antibodies
• Random blood glucose (if mod/high risk of diabetes)
• Midstream Urine
• Chlamydia screening

Counsel and offer first trimester screening at 11 to 13 weeks - regardless of woman’s age Complete Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale.

Discuss alcohol, smoking, diet, exercise, back care, minor discomforts, and illicit drug use.

Giving birth is both exhausting and emotional. After the birth, you may feel very tired and with your hormones once again changing, very emotional.

Physically, you may feel sore, especially if you have had stitches.

We will make sure that you are recovering from the birth and help you with any questions you may have regarding your health or the health of your baby.

We aim to provide guidance on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle after you have had your baby.

Diet, exercises, rest, pelvic floor exercises, breast feeding advice.

For more information

http://www.ngala.com.au/parenting with confidence
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/products/counselling.asp about breast feeding
http://australia.gov.au/service/pregnancy-birth-baby-service

• Contraceptive Implant (Implanon NXT®) insertion and removal,
• Contraceptive Injection, Vaginal Ring (Nuvaring®) and all varieties of Oral contraception
• Abortion/early pregnancy termination information and referral
• Unplanned pregnancy information

STI is Sexually Transmitted Infection.

• Do you worry or think that you have been exposed to a STI?
• Do you want clean bill of health before you decide to have sex with new partner?
• Have been having unprotected sex or think your partner has?

It’s smart to be tested.

Whatever your reason we can help you to get tested and to provide the treatment and other advises about the prevention of STIs.Testing could be done by various methods, checking your urine, blood or taking swabs from the infected sites.

There are many STIs such as,

• Chlamydia
• Gonorrhea
• Mycoplasma genitalialium
• Trichomoniasis
• Genital warts
• Genital herpes
• HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B & C

Even if you don’t have any symptoms you can still have the infection.

Regardless of your sexuality - straight /gay / lesbian /bisexual you can still have the infection.

The only way to be sure you are OK is to get tested and treated by your doctor.

The treatment is easy and effective. It’s important to get checked because, if left untreated, may cause long-term health problems.

It is important to let your partner /partners know about the condition to prevent the further spread of the diseases.

If you really don't want to contact your partner by yourself, GP a at Haynes medical centre willing to help you. We can help by:

• Contacting your partner on your behalf by phone, letter, email or SMS without ever mentioning your name.
• We can notify specially trained staff that works for the communicable disease section of the health department to contact your partner.
• These are known as contact tracers, will not reveal your name to your partner under any circumstances

More information visit: www.letthemknow.org.au/partners.html

If you've had unprotected sex for more than 12 months (or, if you're over 35, six months) and are still not pregnant, you may begin to wonder if you are infertile. If you decide to seek medical help, the best thing to do is see your doctor.

GP can help you with your problem by history taking, examination and arranging blood tests, USS and promoting healthy life style and referral to fertility specialists.