GEELONGADVERTISER.COM.AU TUESDAY JUNE 25 2019 NEWS 13

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A BOUTIQUE Yarraville doggie day care will open a luxury centre in South Geelong if a planning application is approved.

Urban Paws doggie day care has lodged an application to set up a 50-dog minding service in Dowsett St.

Urban Paws currently hasone centre in Yarraville.

It’s proposed the South Geelong centre would provide “daytime only” care for up to 50 dogs with no canines kept on the premises overnight.

If approved, the centre would also offer grooming and pet education classes on weekends. It’s expected the centre would be staffed with a ratio of one employee to every 10 dogs.

Proposed opening hours are from 7am-7pm from Monday to Friday and 8am-1pm on Saturday and Sunday.

A decision on the application will not be made until after July 10.

Application for doggie daycare

A RULE preventing psycholo-gists and parents being able todiscuss young patients in sub-sidised sessions is impactingaccess to care, a peak body hasrevealed.

Psychologists cannot billMedicare for consultationswith parents where the childpatient is absent.

Australian PsychologicalSociety College of ClinicalPsychologists national chairDr Brendan Meagher, a New-comb-based clinical psychol-ogist, said Geelong kidsbattling mental illness couldface extremely lengthy wait-lists. The Medicare rule madeit “very hard” to identify psy-

chologists who operated underthe structure, he said.

Dr Meagher said psycholo-gists had few referral optionsdue to the situation, and wherereferral options were availablethe waiting time was oftenmonths.

He said being able to havethe subsidised sessions alonewith parents would enable bestpractice.

“It can be about getting ad-ditional information from theparents, or it could be aboutproviding strategies directly tothe parents, which is best donewithout the child present,” DrMeagher said.

A federal health depart-ment spokesman said as thechild was the patient under the

Better Access program, theywere required to be present forthe consultation to be a clini-cally relevant service underMedicare.

“This does not preclude thepsychologist from seeing par-ents without the child present,they can,” the spokesman said.

“However the psychologistcannot bill Medicare underBetter Access for this consul-tation.”

Under Better Access,patients can access up to10 subsidised sessions with apsychologist per calendar year.

The spokesman said theMedicare Benefits ScheduleReview Taskforce establisheda Mental Health ReferenceGroup in June last year to

review the current suite ofMBS items delivered underBetter Access.

In its draft report, the refer-ence group recommended anamendment to allow therapysessions with family memberswhere the patient was notpresent.

“In many situations, afundamental element ofevidence-based best practicein the delivery of psychologi-cal therapies is the provision ofsessions for carers,” the reportsaid.

“These sessions are notcurrently eligible for a Medi-care rebate if the ‘identifiedpatient’ is not physicallypresent.”

The department spokes-

man said the MHRG draftreport was released for consul-tation in February, and closedearlier this month.

“It is expected that the task-force will consider feedback incoming months and will final-ise their recommendations togovernment later in 2019,” hesaid.

Dr Meagher said psycholo-gists had highly effective, non-medication based treatmentsto resolve a range of mentalhealth issues in young peoplesuch as depression, anxietyand problematic eating issues.

“We need the funding andthe government support to beable to provide those serviceswhere and when they areneeded,” Dr Meagher said.

RULE HINDERS MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR KIDSTAMARA McDONALD

FANCY yourself as a home baker turned tal-ented chef?

Dust off your apron and channel your innerMasterChef for this year’s Central GeelongBake Off. The hunt is on for Geelong’s besthome baker as part of Tastes of Central Gee-long — a festival of food, flavours and fun fromJuly 5-28.

Enter your best-baked dish into the Bake Offfor the chance to be crowned Central Geelong’sBake Off champion by celebrity chef KarenMartini.

Martini has appeared on Better Homes andGardens and My Kitchen Rules, showing off herculinary prowess to the nation.

Judging of cakes and slices is on July 8,biscuits and cupcakes on July 9, and desserts onJuly 10 at Westfield Geelong.

The judging panel will select a winner fromeach category from 1pm and each category win-ner will receive two tickets to An Afternoonwith Karen Martini on July 20 at The Pier andthe season degustation dinner for two at theDavidson Restaurant.

Winners will need to bake their winning itemagain for the final on July 20. This item will thenbe judged by Martini at the Afternoon withKaren Martini event and the overall winner willtake home an $800 KitchenAid mixer.

For the bake off rules and to register, visitcentralgeelong.com.au/tastes

TASTE OF HEAVEN: The hunt is on for Geelong’s best home baker in the 2019 Central Geelong Bake Off. Pictured are Gordon Cookery Cert 3 student Jeanne Vandekatsey and judge Leonie Mills from The Gordon. Picture: GLENN FERGUSON

NO HALF-BAKEDEFFORT HERE

OLIVIA REED

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