Comprehensive healthcare

The Southbank Family Medical Centre continues to go from strength to strength under its philosophy of providing an easily accessible and patient-centric health service to the local community.

Head general practitioner (GP) Dr David Izon said, given the fast-paced nature of working and living in the inner city, the City Rd clinic’s key focus was on providing a quick, easy and holistic health service.

“It’s very patient-orientated. When we created this clinic we looked at creating a patient-centred approach even from the way the patients find us and book in for appointments,” he said.

“You can do it over an computer, iPhone, iPad or Android device. Patients can even say that they’ve arrived without seeing the receptionist using one of the tablets in the front, which are easily accessible.”

Within minutes, a patient can easily book in an appointment online and see a doctor on the same day.

Complemented with a broad set of general health practices, which include a range of therapies, psychology, vaccinations and occupational health services, the clinic has quickly become the go-to-place for many locals.

With both a male and female GP onsite, Dr Izon said the clinic was committed to serving the inner city’s diverse community and, most importantly, in a timely manner.

“Obviously, as doctors, we know we have to prioritise emergencies but generally we run very much to time,” Dr Izon said. “I hate when I go to the dentist sitting there and being told ‘there’s four people ahead of you and it might take 45 minutes’ because that’s not okay.”

“Even if there’s a queue at the front desk they can log in electronically, grab a cup of coffee and put their feet up, watch TV and chill out. It’s very much patient-centred. There’s no rush.”

While fostering a fun, friendly and relaxing environment for staff and patients alike, Dr Izon said the clinic aimed to offer “multidisciplinary approaches to health and wellness”.

Yet another reflection of that approach is the recent addition of a skin cancer surveillance service to the clinic, which is one of few around in the inner-city area.

As a qualified skin cancer sub-specialist, Dr Izon said the clinic would now be able to provide both mole mapping and surgical services onsite.

“There’s nothing around here and the ones that are, as far as I can tell with the skin cancer surveillance where they do mole mapping, it’s done by a nurse that is sent off to a doctor at a later time,” he said.

“What we try to offer here is like a cosmetic clinic. It’s like a boutique clinic where you see the same doctor every time and for a high quality of service.”

And as inner city’s transient community continues to grow, Dr Izon said the clinic looked forward to growing with it to meet demand.

“We’ve got middle to upper-middle class and student populations all built up in these really luxurious apartments around this area. So we’ve actually got a very high-density population under-doctored,” he said.

“From our point of view, it’s a perfect environment because we offer all of these services and we’re wanting to grow and we want to grow rapidly.”

For more information visit http://www.southbankmedical.com.au

Interior design heaven

With a name reflecting the experience of entering the 2000sqm heritage-listed South Melbourne warehouse, World of Style is truly a slice of interior design heaven.

As the interior design arm to construction company Porter Davis, the City Rd showroom, complete with a cafe, was established two years ago to provide clients with expert styling advice for their new homes.

However, with demand for their style and expertise constantly increasing, World of Style marketing manager Erin Field said the vast showroom had been tailored to assist anyone in need of styling tips and guidance.

“As amazing and beautiful as this space is, when you walk in it can be quite overwhelming so it’s quite important that there’s a solid customer experience and design philosophy that sits behind it,” she said.

“We’ve put a lot of work and thought into how can we better help customers with those styling decisions. How can we make it simple, care free and easy?”

Devised by its qualified and experienced team of interior designers, the World of Style’s conceptual approach to interior design is based on four key themes of classic, resort, contemporary and designer.

Within each of those themes are four individual interior schemes which have been designed to help provide clients with the most comprehensive guide to styling their homes.

While the concept is based on trends from cities all around the world, Erin said ultimately it was a guide for helping people to express their own individual styles.

“What the design team has done is draw inspiration from iconic cities and places around the world like Prague, Tuscany, Barcelona and also Maldives as well as more local names like the Whitsundays and Bondi,” she said.

“We believe your style is the ultimate expression of who you are so we’re ultimately here to help people enhance that expression.”

In a bid to provide comprehensive styling advice to a broad range of clients, World of Style has recently launched ID Studio – a boutique consultation service providing clients with a unique experience.

ID Studio’s interior designer Stephanie Atanasovski, said the new service meant that anyone could now incorporate the Porter Davis style in their own home renovations.

“If you’re not going to build a new house but you are looking for a home style makeover or you want to refurnish your apartment or do a DIY but you need some help visualising it ID Studio can help,” she said.

“It’s particularly great if you’re in love with the Porter Davis style aesthetic and you want to bring a little bit of that into your existing home.”

Being located in the heart of the inner city, Erin said the showroom’s services were increasingly being sought after by apartment owners in areas such as Docklands.

Erin said the team invited anyone in need of home styling guidance to drop in to experience the service.

“The location is great and because we’ve got that impressive facade out the front it’s a draw card and it gets people to stop and look and go ‘what’s in there?’” she said.

“As far as being based in South Melbourne, it’s a trendy, vibrant and cool place to be and with the freeway access as well it’s great.”

For more information visit http://www.worldofstyle.com