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By Dr EK Wills So it seems the health department have evolving recommendations and everyone has different advice to help flatten the curve and make it manageable for the health service. But what does this mean for everyone every day? No one has come out with a simple list of what we need to do to stay safe and generally do our bit for the community. Based on what I have seen so far and what appears to be working across the board, I have generated a simple checklist to make i

By EK Wills When my niece asked for tips on how to get her child to sleep, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t already done a blog post on this! So thanks for the heads up and here goes… Sleep with respect to children is always an issue. As long as medical issues are ruled out, then practical points are required to get good sleep. Babies First it starts when they are born and then it steadily progresses through different stages. No sooner do you master the one you’re in then it becom

By EK Wills A friend lost her kindred sister to the horror of violence this week. The attacker was someone she had previously trusted and shockingly this is still not unusual in society generally. In the week of International Women’s Day it is important to reflect on the situation for women because the struggle has not eased. In India in 2012 there was an horrific attack on a woman on a bus where she was beaten, raped repeatedly by a gang in Delhi, and left for dead. There wa

By EK Wills out with pram and muslin wrap Has anyone ever come up to you in the street or the supermarket and told you what you should be doing with your baby? This seems to be a regular occurrence. Many new mums report that unsolicited advice is offered by strangers telling them all sorts of ways to be a better carer. I remember struggling with the shopping and standing in a queue with the pram and being told by a random shopper that I would suffocate my child because I had

By EK Wills on the way to ED on call There are many systemic issues in our current public health system but from my perspective within that structure, the heart of it is seems to be related to an ‘old boys club’ that perpetuates the notion of ‘if we did it, then you have to do it too’. Recently, the media has been reporting incidents relating to workplace issues for doctors and more specifically for surgeons. This came to light again with the latest junior doctor revelation a

by EK Wills I recently had a patient lament that the system makes it so difficult to access services to mental health. That comment rings true for many people because there are so many options and so it can be difficult to navigate them. There is also a misconception that there is one place that fits all because it is ‘mental health’ and that is one ailment. In fact there are many types of mental health issues such as depression, domestic violence, trauma, psychosis: the list

by EK Wills I’ve never been good at taking compliments but like to give them freely. Even when I consciously say to myself that I will try and accept them, someone will give me a sneaky compliment and I mumble some excuse to negate it. Like last weekend when a colleague asked me my secret to a youthful appearance, I muttered something about my Chinese heritage and quickly changed the subject. But I have one friend who is very good at accepting compliments and I realised that

By EK Wills I recently discovered that a good friend of mine is suffering circumstances that you only expect to hear about in the news or in families in less fortunate situations. But she and her husband have respectable jobs, own their own home and have 3 children at good schools. She has not experienced physical pain but endures psychological abuse indiscriminately and is fearful in her own home. It began insidiously with her husband working long hours in a stressful job so