About Central Clinic
Central Clinic is a modern, fully accredited practice with facilities in both Warragul and Drouin. Our doctors have a wide range of specialties and speak a number of languages so you can find a health professional who understands you best.
We endeavour to provide patients with the best and most current treatments, methods, materials and equipment within our resources capabilities.
We believe that ethical and responsible behaviour is essential to maintain the trust and loyalty of our patients and staff.
Our doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and administrative staff are committed to supporting our patients, by promoting health, well-being and disease prevention.
Central Clinic has been operating in Gippsland for over 17 years. We believe in excellence, diversity and confidentiality for all our patients.
Practice Profile
Central Clinic is a highly professional primary care medical facility. Our aim is to give our patients the highest possible quality of care, by ensuring excellence in all aspects of our practice.
We believe that the patient is the most important person in the practice.
We strive at all times to work in a highly ethical, responsible and inclusive manner.
We strive to create a harmonious and productive environment built on mutually respectful teamwork.
We endeavour to provide patients with the best and most current treatments, methods, materials and equipment within our resources capabilities.
We believe that ethical and responsible behaviour is essential to maintain the trust and loyalty of our patients and staff.
Our doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and administrative staff are committed to supporting our patients, by promoting health, well-being and disease prevention.
General Practice Accreditation
Our practice is fully accredited with General Practice Australia which means its practices and procedures are fully monitored and assessed.
This triennial independent assessment certifies that a practice meets the Royal Australian College of General Practitioner’s standards for the provision of a quality health services.
Central Clinic Warragul was granted accreditation in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013 , 2016, 2019 and 2023.
Central Clinic Drouin was granted accreditation in 2004, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016 2019, and 2023.
Clinic History
Dr John Finch owned the practice at 9 Barkly St, Warragul for some years before selling it to Drs Wayne and Julie Thompson in 1994. In 2000, the practice was bought by Drs Celada, McKelvie and Payne.
In 2001, the practice moved to bigger premises in Victoria Street Warragul, and was renamed ‘Central Clinic’. In 2004 Central Clinic opened a branch in the ever expanding Drouin community. In July 2007, when Drs McKelvie and Payne left the partnership, Drs Ketheeswaran and Roman joined the partnership with Dr Celada.
Since 2007 the practice has continued to grow quickly. Our desire to be able to provide extensive services to our patients across the Warragul and Drouin clinics motivated our decision to build a new clinic in Warragul. Our intention was to design and construct a building which would take us into the next decade and beyond, with state-of-the-art facilities, equipment and a professional health care team to provide optimal health care for all patients. The new building was opened in June 2014.
Diversity Policy
At Central Clinic, we recognise the rich diversity of identity, culture, religion, sexuality, race and linguistic backgrounds of Gippsland residents and strive towards accessible services for all of our patients including:
- People of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage
- People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- People who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and/or Intersex (LGBTI)
- People with dementia
- People living in rural and remote areas
- People experiencing financial disadvantage – including people who experience or are at risk of homelessness
Our staff and doctors recognise the need for an inclusive and comfortable environment for all our patients. If you would like to discuss any special requirements for your consultation, you are welcome to address any enquiries to our reception staff.
Communication Policy
We understand how important the trusted relationship you have with your Medical Practitioner is to you and your family. If there are reasons why you cannot attend our clinic to see your Medical Practitioner face-to-face, you may wish to call them.
It is important to note that Medical Practitioners are unable to accept calls whilst consulting, unless it is an emergency.
As you can appreciate doctors are busy attending to other patients and returning a phone calls inbetween appointments is not usually possible if they want to be on time for their next patient. If your call is deemed urgent, you will be put through to a nurse as a part of our triage service.
For all other matters of a non-urgent nature, our friendly reception team will notify your Medical Practitioner by internal electronic communication of your call so that the Medical Practitioner can advise of appropriate action to be taken. e.g. A return phone call from our Practice Nurse. Central Clinic aims to have all calls returned on the day received (unless your Medical Practitioner is not consulting that day). On some occasions, there could be a delay that is beyond our control due to unforeseen circumstances.
Patients please be advised that:
- email and SMS communication is not a substitute for a direct consultation with a doctor;
- email and SMS communication is not monitored in the same manner as telephone communication. Therefore, it may take up to 7 days to receive a response to a request;
- requests for prescriptions or referrals cannot be made by email or SMS. Such requests can only be made via a face to face or telehealth consultation with a doctor;
- if a matter is urgent, patients must telephone the practice to make an appointment
If patients contact the clinic via email, please be advised that communication via email is not monitored on a regular basis and any health related information needs to be discussed via a phone call to the practice.
General emails do NOT use secure encryption. Therefore, it is possible that any message you send us could theoretically be read by a third party. For this reason we strongly recommend you do not use email to provide us with confidential or sensitive information.