Mission statement:
To reduce Australia's smoking-related death and disease
Signup here. All information is confidential, and records are stored securely via medical practice software at an accredited clinic.
Once you’ve signed up, you’ll soon receive some GoogleForm questionnaires for further information. This will gather information such as: your smoking or vaping history; other smoking-related exposures; medical history; recent blood tests, etc.
I’ll then assess what next steps are needed for you: it might be to arrange a chest x-ray, lung function testing, blood pressure monitoring, some blood tests.
If you need prescriptions for related conditions (eg for lung conditions, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, heart or kidney issues) I can provide these.
SmokerHealth is an Australian first! It’s a new nationwide bulk-billed Telehealth medical service, run by Dr Carolyn Beaumont.
It’s Telehealth with a difference:
It is designed specifically for smokers (current or ex-smokers), who are at risk of smoking-related disease. Even if you quit smoking years ago, lung and cardiac damage can continue.
SmokerHealth acknowledges that smokers face many barriers to accessing medical care, and that your more complex health needs aren’t always met.
SmokerHealth has a sole mission: to reduce smoking-related death and disease in Australia.
SmokerHealth provides:
- lung cancer screening
- heart disease risk management
- blood pressure monitoring
- cholesterol and diabetes checks
- kidney health checks
- chronic lung disease management
You sign up as a Telehealth patient, and complete an intake questionnaire.
SmokerHealth will be partnering with community pharmacies, so you can get your blood pressure checked, and collect any prescriptions.
Various services will be available, such as annual screening chest imaging, blood tests, blood pressure monitoring and scripts for related conditions.
All consultations are bulk-billed (for Medicare card holders).
Example 1:
Barry is a 65 year old farmer from NSW. He has smoked for 50 years, and is trying to quit. He lives 80km from the nearest clinic, and struggles to see the doctor for his heart disease medications. Barry is eligible to signup with SmokerHealth, and partners with a community pharmacy for blood pressure checks. Through SmokerHealth, Barry can access a bulk-billed chest x-ray to assess for lung damage from smoking. His blood pressure and heart disease medication can also be prescribed, and annual blood tests are arranged.
Barry also decides to quit smoking one more time. He has tried various things before, such as nicotine patches and gums. He got a persistent rash from the patches, and the gum made him nauseous. They didn’t seem to help the cravings, and when life got stressful he would start smoking again. Barry decides to give e-cigarettes a go, as he saw a sign at his local pharmacist about it. Barry obtains a prescription, trials a pharmacy-stocked vape, and finds that for the first time he doesn’t seem to need a cigarette.
EVERY YEAR there are 20,000 preventable deaths due to smoking. This is more than the national death toll from Covid over 3 years!
I work in the field of tobacco harm reduction. To be truly effective, I realised that smoking-related preventive care is an essential part of my mission.
SmokerHealth Teleheatlh services was established by me in 2023, for a simple reason: to reduce smoking-related death and disease.
Australian smokers are more likely to suffer from lung cancer, chronic lung disease, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and chronic kidney disease (to name just a few).
Those most at risk are those with the least access to regular bulk-billed medical care: rural and remote communities, Indigenous communities, those on lower incomes. Unfortunately smoking rates are higher than the national average in these groups.
And there are simply not enough bulk-billed medical clinics to service these needs, especially in rural and remote Australia. There are transport issues, cost issues, and long waiting lists to access medical services. Local emergency departments become overwhelmed with people turning to them for relatively simple medical needs such as a repeat prescription.
Thousands of Australian smokers are missing out on simple yet crucial preventative measures that can improve their quality of life. Things such as: chest imaging for early detection of lung cancer; blood pressure monitoring (via a local partnering pharmacy); kidney, cholesterol and diabetes checks; chronic lung disease assistance; and easy access to regular prescriptions for these conditions.
I have decided that enough is enough! Smokers deserve the best access to healthcare, regardless of where they live or what they earn.
So with this in mind, I established SmokerHealth Telehealth services. Through SmokerHealth, you can access these essential healthcare services for issues specifically targetted to the health needs of smokers. This is not a general medical Telehealth service however – it is deliberately limited in scope to focus on smoking-related health issues.
I am passionate about offering this as a bulk-billed service. Our Medicare system may be under-funded and over-stretched, but it is there for every single Australian and we all deserve access to it.
SmokerHealth may not have all the bells and whistles of a private clinic, but it WILL give any Australian smoker access to essential healthcare that they otherwise would not have.
SmokerHealth provides medical care specifically for those at high risk of smoking-related disease:
A lung CT scan every 2 years (for everyone over 50, or younger if you have symptoms), to monitor for early signs of lung damage or cancer.
Blood pressure monitoring (with your preferred pharmacy) and prescription if needed.
Cholesterol testing and prescription if needed.
Diabetes testing and prescription if needed.
Kidney health check, for smoking-related kidney damage and renal cancer.
A ‘heart health’ assessment to determine your risk of cardiovascular disease.
SmokerHealth is available for any one with a smoking history. Ex-smokers and current smokers are eligible.
The aim of SmokerHealth is to provide smoking-related disease reduction to this population in particular. By keeping SmokerHealth targetted to this aim, I am able to offer it as a bulk-billed service.
No matter where you live in Australia, you are able to signup as a SmokerHealth telehealth patient
SmokerHealth isn’t a general telehealth service. At this stage there isn’t the capacity to offer other medical services, such as other general scripts, mental health care plans, and assistance for medical emergencies.
Yes! A core feature of SmokerHealth is that it is bulk-billed (for Medicare card holders). Providing bulk-billed medical access to those who most need it is central to the philosophy of SmokerHealth.
The trade-off is that SmokerHealth currently doesn’t have the scope to offer other, non smoking-related medical consults. So unfortunately things such as mental health care plans are not currently available.
Unfortunately, no. At this stage, I don’t offer private consults for non-Medicare card holders. As the service expands though, this will most likely be an option.