Terralong Street Surgery voted one of best in Australia

– Elizabeth Moorhead on work experience

The Terralong Street Surgery has been awarded third place in the top 20 medical practices across Australia to receive accreditation in 2007.

The Australian General Practice Accreditation (AGPAL) presented Dr Natalia Bakhilova, the principal of the Terralong Street Surgery, with the award at a ceremony in Melbourne on Friday, April 18, attended by 400 medical staff from across Australia.

The award is a culmination of almost 12 months of scrutiny from AGPAL.

“To get accredited we had to go through a whole raft of checklists,” Ray Horney, Manager of Terralong Street Surgery, said.

“How the doctors approach patients, clinical care and the manner of their advice was all assessed.”

To gain accreditation, the staff had to undergo interviews to demonstrate their understanding of medicine and patient privacy policies. Even the cleaning staff had to display their understanding of specialised cleaning procedures.

For Dr Bakhilova, the efforts to secure accreditation were justified when the practice was announced as number three out of a pool of 1500 eligible practices that received accreditation in 2007.

“I am very fortunate in having such accomplished staff and I am proud all our efforts over the year it has taken to become accredited have been rewarded,” she said.