The Northern Beaches has welcomed a first-class health care facility with the opening of South Steyne Medical Centre on the 10th of May, located at 15 South Steyne, Manly, on land previously owned by Royal Far West.
Manly residents, as well as residents from the rest of the Northern Beaches, will initially have access to five GPs, and a support team (including allied health) dedicated to providing exceptional primary care.
Some residents will be familiar with Dr Jon Levenston, a Manly local who has served the Manly community for over 40 years as a family physician. Jon is thrilled to be part of the new team at South Steyne Medical Centre.
“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be part of this medical centre. I’m really looking forward to the doors opening and knowing we have the capability to provide not only primary care, but also chronic, skin and mental health care.
“When I started practicing medicine in the area over 40 years ago, there were 18 GP’s. Nowadays Manly and its surrounding regions are averaging four physicians. Coupled with the closure of the Manly Hospital, for the wonderful area we reside in, the accessibility to great quality and local health care is certainly lacking. This new centre is fixing that – bringing exceptional health care and quality back to the area,” says Dr Levenston.
The driving force behind the centre are the Rushton’s, Northern Beaches locals who run a successful medical centre in Western Sydney. Peter Rushton, CEO for the new centre, said they saw an opportunity to bring their skills, expertise and health care vision to Manly.
“We’re big believers in patient-centric health care. While we’re proud of raising the standard of care in Western Sydney, for a long time we’ve wanted to do the same for the community we live in. In recent years, this area has had a significant reduction in services available to locals.
“As part of our approach to serving the community, we highly regard our relationships with key health care providers such as Royal Far West, the Northern Sydney Local Health District and the Sydney North Health Network, so our patients can easily access necessary services, either through us or acting on our advice,” said Mr Rushton.
Dr Freda Mangan, also joining South Steyne Medical Centre, said it was fitting for the centre to be located on the site of Royal Far West House.
“Royal Far West is iconic in this community. It’s great that South Steyne Medical Centre shares the charity’s ideals of dedication to health and wellbeing, and can provide support to the Royal Far West community, including the hundreds of country families that visit the charity each year for developmental care” said Dr Mangan.
South Steyne Medical Centre believes in the adage ‘prevention is better than a cure’ and will be offering specialised topical health clinics for select groups of patients.
Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm and Saturday from 9am to 4pm.
Appointments can be made at www.southsteynemedical.com.