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Author: Nathan Onias

Hey-I and You.

Posted on by Nathan Onias

I’ve been learning about AI lately. Not because I particularly want to, but because it does very much represent the future of where the world is heading. And so, I’ve concluded that if I ignore it, I’m at risk of becoming a luddite. For many people that may be fine, but for me, trying to run a business, that would be bad.

There are many applications of AI which can be used in healthcare. The main point is that AI can help look at everything that’s happened (the data) and discern patterns to predict what’s likely to happen in the future. This could help pick up problems early. As an example, tracking how many times someone opens the toilet door (if they have the technology installed) could alert the team looking after them of urinary frequency, prompting a phone call to screen for a urinary tract infection (UTI). That’s just one example.

What does this all rest on?

Logic and rationality. The point being, computers don’t really have emotions. And if they do, they’re simply learning to mimic human emotion. Rational decisions mean that we make optimum choices, balancing risks and benefits from all that’s happened before. That’s the great part about computers – they don’t carry emotional baggage (unless we set them up that way).

How does that differ from our lives as humans?

Let’s face it, we are by contrast products of the combination of nature and nurture – as it is said. We make choices partly based on logic (optimised) that would be looked at as rational and reproducible: “Anyone would make this decision given the options available”. And then we make all sorts of other decisions, purely based on our idiosyncrasies and some version of emotional mush.

Is that such a bad thing?

I don’t think so. What I’ve found so far in life, from observing and talking to many people in the capacity of being a doctor and beyond, is that at its core, being intelligent, rational and logical has nothing to do with being happy and necessarily finding joy. These things, are by contrast, very emotionally driven, as are their converse – being sad. These are the emotional oscillations in life, that add colour to our day.

Intelligence can be stimulating, no doubt, and indeed, fascinating, intriguing and conjure curiosity. Yet still, it can leave you with a certain degree of emptiness. So yes, as we approach the dawn of AI, to marvel at AI, embrace it if it must be. But don’t rely on its superpowers to ultimately effect your emotions.

A hope

The case for AI in healthcare is often justified by its role in all the back end work, the logic heavy lifting, so that humans at the front end can be more human, including delivering care with a sense of warmth and empathy. I think this could be true. I certainly don’t love doing paperwork or tapping away on a computer when I’m with a patient. However, equally, I hope we don’t all drift towards being in awe of logic and computers such that the human touch accidentally gets overshadowed and less valued.

In the end…

I was recently in the audience at a talk given by a doctor involved in delivering voluntary assisted dying (VAD). And whether you support VAD or not, what he said was a timely reminder, that in those final moments, when someone is about to voluntarily end their life, sometimes surrounded by family, other times not, what they talk about and always say they’ll miss, are aspects of human connection. The people in their lives, the times they spent with them, and how important they are. Never about work or technology. I’m not sure if that’s a “logical” conclusion, but it seems to be the most important final one.

Driven by Soul,

Floyd

The three checks every woman should have on her radar

Posted on by Nathan Onias

There’s rarely a single moment where all your screening comes up at once. A reminder text here, a form you meant to fill in there, a conversation you keep meaning to have with your GP. Before long it’s been a year, or longer, and you’re not entirely sure what’s actually up to date.

This month we’re bringing three of the most important checks for women together in one place: breast, cervical and bowel. None of them need to feel daunting, and you don’t need to have all three on your mind at once. Our team can check what’s due for you in a couple of minutes.

Breast

Getting to know what’s normal for you is the first step, so anything new (a lump, a change in shape, skin puckering, nipple changes) stands out and gets checked. One in seven Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, which is exactly why regular checks matter, not because something is wrong, but because catching changes early gives you the most options.

Depending on your age and risk factors, this might mean a free two-yearly mammogram through BreastScreen Australia, or a clinical breast check with your GP. If you’re not sure which applies to you, that’s a completely normal question to bring to your next appointment.

Cervical

Cervical screening has changed a lot over the past few years, and a lot of women are still working from an outdated picture of what’s involved. The cervical screening test now only needs to happen every five years for most women aged 25 to 74, and self-collection is now an option for many people, meaning you can take your own sample in a private area of the clinic rather than needing a traditional exam.

If it’s been a while (or you’ve never had one), there’s no judgement here. Our nurses can talk you through exactly what to expect before you book.

Bowel

The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program sends a free home test kit in the mail every two years to eligible Australians. It’s quick, it’s done in your own bathroom, and it’s linked to a real reduction in the risk of dying from bowel cancer. If yours has gone missing, expired, or you’ve just never quite gotten around to it, our nurses can help you order a replacement or talk through how it works.

Bringing it together

None of these checks require you to already have a symptom or a specific worry. “I’d like to check what screening I’m due for” is a completely reasonable reason to book an appointment, and our GPs are used to covering more than one of these in the same conversation.

While you’re catching up on your own health this month, it’s also worth mentioning to us if anyone in the family is behind on a flu or shingles vaccination before winter fully wraps up. It’s an easy add-on to any appointment.

Book a time with your GP at your local Atticus Health clinic to check what’s due.

Driven By Soul

Is it time to reject the traditional expectation of “middle age”?

Posted on by Nathan Onias

There I was standing in the isle at Victoria Market. Stalls either side. Belts, wallets and jeans. Today it was jeans.

“He’s a big boy,” the old lady exclaimed as she put her measuring tape around my waist. Yes, I think I was about 12 years old and my waist was 90cm. Mum stood and nodded proudly since coming from India being a “big boy” was considered a measure of “healthiness”. I remember it well because I didn’t know what I felt. Of course, when I hit high school I found many reasons not to be a big boy anymore and battled hard to lose weight.

Moving along, I remember whilst I was working at Carrum, I was sitting at my desk and my patient looked at me and said, “Doc, I can see you’re putting on weight. You know I left my last doctor because they got fat and I couldn’t take them seriously anymore. They simply weren’t walking the talk.” In a humble and practical way, I accepted what my patient had to say. How could I tell patients to do as I say, not as I do? It would be akin to telling them to quit smoking when I smelled like cigarettes.

So, for all of us, it’s really a question of what we accept as normal or not. Wherever that line is drawn, we need to challenge any thinking that may be limiting or that writes off our own power to adjust things. A common one is to accept limitations in the context of “getting old”. At any stage of life, there will be things you can change and there’ll be things you can’t. That’s for each of us to consider and decide. And with that said – here goes …

Posture

It’s a powerful thing to maintain an upright posture for as long as you can. Of course, everyone at one stage or another was reminded to “stand up straight”, but it’s not just for the aesthetic benefit that it’s worth doing. Bad posture is related to neck pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, hand issues, back pain and headaches. These could also find their origin in poor posture. Recently I read an article in The Age newspaper which talked about this. It was helpful. It challenged the commonly held notion that poor posture just happens over time. And equally that it can be corrected by simply pulling your shoulders back and reminding yourself to stand straight. Rather it’s a matter and consequence of maintaining adequate muscle function and strength around your neck, back and shoulders that keeps your posture from deteriorating. Without going into details about the exercises themselves, I’d encourage you to take that as a challenge, and see how much you can improve your posture throughout your life.

“Middle-aged spread”

Now here I accept that there are many reasons the body biologically tends to put on weight as we age. Menopause, other changes to our metabolism and even what we can physically do all have inputs. For example, if you have painful knees, it’s hard to walk as much as you once would. Nevertheless, the idea that we all “fill out” as we age is simply not there to accept as a fundamental truth in and of itself. I’ve heard that myself, “Yes Floyd, you’ll find you’ll ‘fill out’ down the track”. I reckon that’s very self-limiting and may even ‘grants’ me the right to become overweight as I age.

So, coming back to this, I am thankful to that patient who challenged me to not to put on too much weight. And for my dad who used to pull me up often to say, “Stop slouching,” (although he didn’t quite tell me how beyond standing straight). And I’d put it to you that rejecting these poorly conceived ideas of “normal ageing” will pave the way to a more empowered view of your health.

Once again, everyone’s got their individual situation, and we’re here to understand that situation to help change what we can, accepting sometimes there’s surely things we can’t change. But draw that line carefully, with a fine-tipped pen.

Foot for thought. 

Posted on by Nathan Onias

A recurrent topic I’ve discussed with patients this week is footwear.

I’ve had more than one patient tell me how their back, knees and feet all hurt … and then didn’t hurt based on what shoes they were wearing.

Firstly, one patient loved to wear a particular type of boot with a short heel and he was fine. Then he started wearing flat shoes and had a problem. When he went back to wearing his original shoes, he got better!

Another patient noted that as his shoes started wearing out on the outside (lateral) aspect, he would get back pains. As soon as he got new shoes, that improved.

Now one thing to say is that if you have back, hip, knee or foot pain and are overweight, then losing weight may improve the pain. I’m sure you already know that, but it would be remiss of me not to mention it. Moving on, the next thing to say clearly is that your shoes are very important!

If you’re not sure what shoes would be best for your foot, then talk to a podiatrist about it. Note that we have a very experienced podiatrist, David Lee, who works across several of our clinics. Otherwise, just keep in mind that to be active, your foot health goes a long way and your ability to walk should not be taken for granted. So, it’s worthwhile caring about what shoes you wear.

My personal reflection of this is from running; it always feels better with a newer pair of shoes. Once they get worn in, just a little bit, you reach a sweet spot. A short funny story was that fairly recently I bought new running shoes and when I brought them home, two of my sons both agreed that the shape of the sole wasn’t right because it didn’t give good ankle support. Of course, I scoffed at them and labelled them shoe snobs after which I went for a run and nearly rolled my ankle on the beach. Damn kids!

Anyway, the moral of the story is that we should all care about our footwear so we can better look after our feet, ankles, lower legs, upper legs, hips and back! It is in reality very much a case of, “The foot bone’s connected to the leg bone,” and the rest of The Skeleton Dance song that I’m going to have in my head all day now!

Driven by Soul,

Dr Floyd Gomes

On role models

Posted on by Nathan Onias

Last week I wrote about each of us being able to start a quiet revolution in our own lives, and that that revolution starts with our state of mind. This week, as an extension, I’m going to let you know what’s helped me do that in my life. I hope this doesn’t come across as preachy, but here goes.

When I was a kid, I loved comic books because the superhero was usually undercover. Their identity was secret and they’d walk around like everyone else until their super powers were called on. I particularly liked Spider-Man because he was such a goofy, uncool character as Peter Parker … yes, relatable! I’d relish reading those comics every day after school.

In our lives, many moments call for self-control, and our day is filled with these tiny crossroads. Do I or don’t I do this or that? Sometimes these decisions are emotional, sometimes physical, oftentimes both. Whether it’s quitting smoking, going for that walk or not pulling into that Macca’s drive thru! Perhaps it’s making up with that person we’ve had a tiff with. We don’t need to look further than our very own lives to notice how many ways we’re challenged every single day.

In these moments, having role models that readily come to our minds can be handy. They offer us a beacon. At some point, I mainly moved on from Spider-Man (not completely!) and found a few heroes to look up to. Here are a couple.

Mother Teresa

From a health and caring standpoint, this is a person I’ve found to have an amazing story. She helped the poorest of the poor, those dying of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and leprosy, as well as setting up soup kitchens, mobile clinics and orphanages. Her work and the congregation she formed, “Missionaries of Charity”, spanned 133 countries and included over 4,500 nuns. She started her work in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, where I was born, which is a particular connection for me. Mother Teresa was a person for everyone and was absolutely dedicated to the cause she served. She was a Nobel laureate who considered herself “God’s pencil”, and in 2016 was canonised as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. An extraordinary life. In many of our clinics, you will see a picture of Mother Teresa, in memory of her.

Marcus Aurelius

He was a Roman Emperor. Now it’s actually hard for me to know really what he was like as an emperor, but he also studied philosophy and was one of the few, if only, emperors to record his thoughts during the course of his life. These came together in his book “Meditations”. I’ve found this book to be quite a compelling read, and his take on life and death to hold powerful insights. One notable quote includes, “The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” It’s very well written in the vein of Stoic philosophy.

Coming back to your life

Once again, last week I suggested that it’s helpful having people around you who are positive influences or that you look up to. However, for some, there may not be anyone who fits the bill. In that case, it may be worthwhile thinking beyond the people you know and considering someone beyond your immediate circle or from history who you admire. It may be a sports person, a teacher or a musician. Anyone who you resonate with and who espouses a set of values you consider worthwhile. Let that person be a source of inspiration in your life, and perhaps once again, spur you to start your quiet revolution! And as a doctor, I’d say, try to include improved health along the way. Come on – surely you knew I’d say that!

Is it ever too late to start a revolution?

Posted on by Nathan Onias

It’s not that long ago that a patient of mine in her 70s lost 30kg and I light-heartedly said, “It’s time you got a tattoo.” The next time I saw her she flashed her arm, and there it was, the butterfly she always wanted. We high fived. What a blast!

Lives, businesses and nations – they all go through periods of evolution, and periodically, revolutions. Presently Atticus is going through a revolution. Although still a small business, you may be surprised to hear that we employ over 250 people. What that means is that Atticus now needs the help of people who are much more organised and logical than I ever have been or could be. And I’m most grateful for that team.

So, coming back to the question, is it ever too late to start a revolution? It’s not. The reason being is that with a revolution the biggest thing to change is your state of mind. Let’s look at a few examples of what goes on out there. Given I’m a doctor, I’ll loop back to see if anything about this story has a link to health. Take the ride for a moment though. Here goes:

The change of job

I know people who’ve gotten sick of the big corporate world, and went out and did their own thing. We all know these people. Or, they moved into a field that resonated more with who they were. Sometimes that involved further education, sometimes it didn’t. My own story is somewhat along those lines. I started my career briefly in banking, before realising it wasn’t me, so committed to becoming a doctor.

The change of partner

Some people realise they’re just not with the right person, and they make a break. That’s a big step, but if you’re in the wrong relationship, and you really think you’ve given “love the one you’re with” a really good go, something’s got to give.

The change of pet

Recently, I’ve met a few people who’ve lost their dogs. In all cases, they ultimately died of old age. Irrespective of the cause, the impact was very significant. For example, one person who used to walk their dog twice a day, started to get bad back pains. We put two and two together and worked out that those walks meant a great deal. It may be time to get a pet. It sounds so simple, but getting a new pet, can change a life dramatically, no matter what stage.

You get the drift

Somewhere in these changes, there’s a quiet revolution. And a revolution usually links closely to a person considering who they are or want to be, then being it, and doing it. This may involve honestly considering their strengths and weaknesses, and typically running with their strengths. On this note, I remember in the very early days at Hastings, we held a local forum about the issue of increasing drug use among youth. Attendees included parents, paramedics, ex-users and those involved with rehab. What came through to me after that was that many young drug users never really identified any particular strength they had whilst growing up. They never got to the point of believing they were “great” at something. That’s a really important part of self-identity.

Finally – About Health

Coming back to the point of revolution and health, it’s a very satisfying and healthy way to be – to live true. True to who you are and what you believe in. When we don’t get or give ourselves the space to do this, it creates a lot of mental anguish that only builds. Helplessness, hopelessness, anxiety and depression can follow. The good news is that if you make a change, and it doesn’t work out, well you had a red-hot go, and in the annals of life, that’s all that really matters.

So it is, on any given day, rather than forever living in the regret of what could have been, we all have that chance to start a revolution in small and big ways. And take heart that nearly all of it begins and ends in the quiet of our state of mind.

Where will your life take you today?

The Blood Pressure Limbo – How Low Can You Go?

Posted on by Nathan Onias

I read an article recently in a medical publication which reaffirmed to me that our management of blood pressure in Australia could be better. That’s to say that too many people still walk around with high blood pressure and either don’t know it, or have it inadequately treated.

Here is a link to the article from the RACGP –

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/australian-hypertension-control-rates-still-lag

The interesting figures from this article are:

  • 39% of Australian adults have high blood pressure
  • Of these, 4 out of 10 (40%) have it properly controlled
  • The National Hypertension Taskforce has set the following target: 70% of patients with high blood pressure should have it well controlled by 2030
  • In Canada today an estimated 70% of people with high blood pressure have it well controlled

What does this mean?

Well for one thing, so many people have high blood pressure! Furthermore, less than half of have adequate control. We’re also a bit behind Canada, where a program targeting this issue was started earlier.

Why care about your blood pressure?

High blood pressure is the most proven risk factor for cardiovascular disease. That’s to say that if you have high blood pressure you increase your risks of having a stroke or heart attack. Apart from that, having high blood pressure damages all your arteries around your body including into your legs, kidneys and even your eyes. So, all these organs can suffer.

If you’re still struggling to understand why high blood pressure could be bad, sometimes I use the following example with patients. Think of those ‘flexi hoses’ under the basin or sink in your house. Remember how they can just ‘pop’ and bust open causing a flood? And, as plumbers sometimes recommend these days (and insurers sometimes demand) you can install a pressure regulator at the mains to reduce the pressure going into the house. This protects all the hoses and pipes. Well, that’s just like your body. A hose pops in your brain, and you have a stroke. We really don’t want that!

How do you bring your blood pressure down?

  1. Lifestyle. The main things in your lifestyle that contribute to your blood pressure being high are:
      • Salt – the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure
      • Alcohol – drink too much, and your blood pressure goes up
      • Smoking
      • Exercise – the more you exercise, the lower your blood pressure
      • Weight loss – tends to bring down your blood pressure
      • Sleep Apnoea – if untreated tends to raise your blood pressure
  2. Medications: There are many different medications out there for lowering blood pressure. Fortunately, many of them have been around for a long time and are generally very safe.

A little story here about taking medications and the trade-off with doing it without or ‘naturally’. It was Oscar Wilde who said, “The road to hell is paved with good intention”. Simply put, this means that more is often needed than just meaning to do well. Not to be too harsh, but it is a bit like that sometimes with health. After all is said and done with our efforts to improve our health, sometimes we just need to get there. In the case of blood pressure, if you try your best with your lifestyle and you’re not winning, then it may be that you have some rarer cause for high blood pressure. This is called “secondary hypertension”. For example, an overactive thyroid gland could be raising your blood pressure. Often this isn’t the case though, and it comes down to your genes just coding for high blood pressure.

Now at this point, having tried your best with your lifestyle, you have a fork in the road – take a medication or not. It’s at this point that some people really resist going down the medication road. I remember a sad story about a patient just like this, and I could never convince her to take any blood pressure medications. The one time I did, she reported all sorts of side effects and vowed not to do it again. So, her blood pressure remained high, and I still remember the day she had a massive stroke right there in the clinic. I felt terrible that I had failed to influence her to take medication to lower her blood pressure. I hope that doesn’t ever happen to you. With blood pressure, it is a matter of making sure that you get to the outcome, whichever road you tread.

How to measure your blood pressure?

Of course, when you come in to see the doctor your blood pressure can be higher than what it is at home. This is because some people naturally get nervous about having it tested or being around doctors. This is called ‘white coat hypertension’. To mitigate this, you can test it in a regimented way at home for one week and bring those readings to your doctor who can take the average. It’s recommended that you test it twice in the morning separated by one minute and twice in the evening separated by one minute (that’s right, four times a day) for one week. That sounds a bit onerous, but only for one week. You can do it! Here is a link to a blood pressure checker you can print out for this purpose –

https://www.mshomecare.com.au/resources/

Just click on the ‘Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Notebook’.

The special case of older people

The RACGP article also makes special mention of older people. This is fair: sometimes it’s tough to balance lowering someone’s blood pressure and not making them feel dizzy or increasing their risk of falls. Firstly, it’s quite staggering to note that up to 85% of people over 75 years old have high blood pressure. Staggering, but understandable. This happens in part because our arteries are naturally more stretchy/elastic (‘compliant’ if you want to get technical) when we’re young. So, when our heart pumps blood our arteries are able to expand avoiding the pressure getting too high. When we age, our arteries get stiffer and sometimes become lined with calcium. When this happens, and our heart pumps blood into them, they can’t expand as well, and blood pressure goes up more readily.

So, what is a correct blood pressure for an older person? The article describes that generally less than 130/80 is good. It concludes that for older people, the risks of having high blood pressure outweigh the risks of having low blood pressure, so I think applying this figure is still valid, even for this population.

A word of advice and caution, one you may have received before: when you first start a new blood pressure medication, change your position slowly when getting up as that’s when your blood pressure could drop too low. In other words, gradually move from laying to sitting to standing, perhaps with a few calf pumps in between to really push that blood back to your heart. Generally, your body settles into things, but at the start it pays to go slow.

In conclusion

Our friends in Canada are controlling their blood pressure a lot better than we do in Australia, but we can catch up. I hope that this article helps all the patients of Atticus control their blood pressure better. If you do, as I’ve mentioned, so many parts of your body stand to benefit. And if you have to take medications, remember those rather ominous words of Oscar Wilde and accept it. It’s a case ultimately of a bit of trial and error, and landing on whatever works. Don’t let yourself stay in the blood pressure limbo. It ain’t the game your body wants you to play.

Dr Floyd Gomes

The Thumb on the Garden Hose

Posted on by Nathan Onias

Have you ever stood in the garden on a hot Melbourne afternoon, blocked the end of the hose, and felt the pressure building up  against your thumb? You can feel the water straining to get out. It’s tight, it’s vibrating, and if the hose is old, you know something is eventually going to give.

Now, imagine that same pressure happening inside your arms, your chest and, most importantly, your brain. Except, unlike the garden hose, you can’t feel it. There’s no vibration. No warning whistle.

That is exactly what high blood pressure (hypertension) is. In Australia, 1 in 3 adults has it, but because it doesn’t usually come with a headache or a flashing neon sign, we call it the “silent killer.”

The Heart-Brain Connection

To keep your brain sharp, to remember the names of your grandkids or where you left the car keys, it needs a steady, gentle stream of oxygen. Your blood vessels are the pipes that deliver that life.

When your blood pressure is high, that “gentle stream” becomes more like a fire hose. Over time, this constant pounding can cause a tiny vessel in the brain to weaken or become scarred. That is how a stroke happens.

As the experts at Stroke Foundation Australia say: “High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for stroke that can be managed.” It’s the one thing we can actually get in the ring and fix together.

Building Your Savings Account

Our GPs are particularly passionate about this. We don’t just see blood pressure as a number on a screen; we sees it as a brain protector.

When your heart pumps through clear, flexible pipes, your brain stays sharp. We call this building your “Cognitive Reserve”, it’s like a savings account for your memory as you age. We want you to be 90 years old and still the person everyone turns to for the tough answers in the trivia night.

A 60-Second Favour

The good news? Checking your blood pressure is incredibly simple. It’s painless, it’s quick, and it gives us the map we need to keep you moving forward safely.

At Atticus, we aren’t here to wag a finger at you. We’re here to be your partners. In fact, we’ve made it so easy you don’t even need an appointment. Every one of our clinics now has a self-check blood pressure machine right in the waiting room. You can just wander in, take a seat, and get your numbers in under a minute, no fuss, no waiting. What if the numbers look a bit high? Don’t sweat it, that’s exactly why we’re here. If your reading isn’t where it should be, or if you just want to understand what those numbers mean for your long-term brain health, book a quick chat with one of our GPs. We’ll help you recalibrate and get back on the right path.

Next time you’re walking past the clinic, pop in for a 60-second check. It’s a small favour for your future self.

A-Voiding The Solution

Posted on by Nathan Onias

One important win for our patients in 2026

Over a period of time we noticed that some of our patients were leaving hospital with urinary catheters. This is a tube which is inserted to drain urine from the bladder, sometimes used when someone cannot urinate themselves, called “urinary retention”.

If the reason for urinary catheter insertion is considered to be temporary, then the patient is asked to return to hospital for a “trial of void”, which means nursing staff remove the catheter and see if the patient can pass urine themselves without it.

For various reasons, some people fail this trial of void and end up having the catheter reinserted. For some of these people there may be no plan to remove it. It is then considered a “long term” or “permanent” catheter, meaning it could be there for life.

Whilst this outcome for some people is appropriate and required, for others it means they end up with a permanent urinary catheter unnecessarily.

Home Care Manager Hilde inspects our new bladder scanner.

As a medical organisation we had our concerns about this, and so in 2025 purchased our own devices which allow us to conduct a trial of void for our own patients, and coach them towards their best chance of removing their urinary catheter. These devices are called bladder scanners. They use ultrasound technology to see how much urine is in the bladder.

We are pleased to report that through our trial of void process, we have been able to successfully and permanently remove some patients’ urinary catheters. This has been a really positive outcome.

One word of caution (although perhaps obvious) – DO NOT try to remove your own urinary catheter at home if you haven’t been asked to do so. This could be dangerous and likely end in pain!

Some of the reasons a person can go into urinary retention temporarily include constipation, bladder stones and infection. These are reversible conditions, with constipation in particular often being a cause. The reason for this is that the rectum is anatomically located behind the bladder and if you are constipated your rectum may be full of faeces such that it tilts the bladder causing a kink in the outlet stopping you from urinating.

Other factors that can help both to pass urine and help with continence, include pelvic floor muscle exercises. Physiotherapy can assist with this, as can special chairs which help activate and train your pelvic floor muscles. At Atticus we have one such device, the Emsella chair. It is available for patient use in our clinic at Hastings.

Once again, we’re enthused by the outcome of our in-house trial of void process; a process that more thoroughly considers all factors and coaches patients, giving them their best attempt to remove a temporary urinary catheter.

More generally, we see great scope and promise for our services at Atticus to facilitate smoother transitions for our patients when they are discharged from hospital. We look forward to expanding this service in 2026 and beyond.

For now, if you know anyone who has a temporary urinary catheter and needs any advice, please ask them to get in touch with us. We’d be glad to help.

Dr Floyd Gomes

Founder – Atticus Health

Calling All Young Artists: Help Us Make Our Street Library Vibrant!

Posted on by Nathan Onias

The Challenge

Our Street Library at Hastings is looking a little boring, and we think it needs some soul. We’re looking for a local kid with a big imagination to take it home, give it a colourful makeover, and help it become a landmark for our community.

How It Works

  1. Dream it: Grab an entry form and draw how you think the library should look.

  2. Submit it: Send your design via email or drop it off at our Atticus Hastings clinic by Monday 19 January.

  3. Create it: If your design is chosen, you’ll be invited to take the library home to decorate it using your own art supplies.

  4. Display it: Once it’s finished, bring it back to our clinic for its grand reveal!

 

The Prizes

The winning artist will be awarded:

Important Details

  • Deadline: All entries must be received by Monday 19 January.

  • Logistics: The winning artist must be able to collect the library from our Hastings clinic and return it once decorated.

  • Supplies: Artists will need to source and use their own art materials (paints, markers, or stickers).