Why many Australians choose Qoctor for weight loss support

At Qoctor, we’re transparent about how our approach works, so people can decide whether it’s the right fit for them.

Many Australians value weight loss support that includes:

• Doctor-led consultations with experienced Australian GPs

• Video appointments as standard, in line with Australian telehealth guidance

• Pay-as-you-go pricing, without subscriptions or lock-in contracts

• Direct ePrescriptions, instantly to your phone or email

• Live customer support, so questions can be answered in real time

However, other programs may suit different preferences – so, understanding how to choose a weight loss program can be helpful when starting out.

Weight management is not one-size-fits-all.

The right program depends on factors such as:

• Your starting weight and health risks

• Previous weight loss attempts

• Whether medication may be appropriate

• Your preference for structure versus flexibility

• The level of medical oversight you’re comfortable with

Understanding how a program works is often more useful than how it’s marketed.

Weight loss programs in Australia may use different pricing models.

Some require:

• Ongoing subscriptions

• Bundled monthly fees

• Minimum commitments

Others offer:

• Pay-as-you-go consultations

• Flexible review appointments

• No long-term contracts

Before choosing a program, it’s worth understanding:

• What’s included in the fee

• Whether medication costs are separate

• How easy it is to pause or stop care

Not all telehealth weight loss programs operate the same way.

When considering a program, ask:

• Will I speak directly with a clinician?

• Is video used when appropriate?

• How are follow-ups handled?

Real-time consultations are particularly important when medical decisions or prescriptions are involved.

Medication is not necessary for everyone — and a good program should help you understand whether it’s appropriate for you.

For some people, medication can:

• Help regulate appetite

• Make lifestyle changes more achievable

• Support improvements in weight-related health conditions

Medication works best when prescribed and monitored by a doctor, as part of a broader health plan.

Rather than focusing on brand names, it can help to ask:

• Is this program appropriate for my health profile?

• Who will be responsible for my medical care?

• How flexible is the structure if my needs change?

• What follow-up and support are available?

• Does the approach align with Australian medical standards?

Many people start by comparing cost or convenience, but long-term satisfaction also comes down to whether a program matches your medical needs and communication preferences.

Qoctor (through our “Doctors for Weight Loss” service)- provides doctor-led telehealth care for Australians seeking structured, medically appropriate weight management.

Patients can access:

• GP-led consultations

• Video appointments

• Flexible, pay-as-you-go care

• ePrescriptions

• Ongoing medical oversight when needed

• Real time customer support

Our role is to support informed decision-making — whether medication is part of your plan or not.

Ready to find out more? Check out Doctors for Weight Loss by Qoctor today

Weight loss is rarely just about weight alone. For many Australians, it is closely linked with overall health, lifestyle, mental wellbeing, and underlying medical conditions. Qoctor offers online GP weight loss consultations in Australia, allowing patients to discuss weight concerns as part of broader medical care. Rather than providing a  subscription only program, Qoctor integrates weight management into a GP-style telehealth consultation, similar to seeing your local doctor, all delivered online.

As part of this approach, Qoctor’s dedicated weight management service is called Doctors for Weight Loss.

In line with Australian telehealth recommendations, Qoctor uses video consultations as the predominant mode of care for online GP weight loss consultations.

The Medical Board of Australia notes that video consultations are preferable to telephone consultations when practical, particularly for more complex or ongoing care. Video allows for clearer communication, better rapport, and more thorough clinical assessment.

• Video consultations are the standard option

• Phone consultations may be used occasionally, where clinically appropriate or if video is not feasible

This video-first approach supports good clinical practice while maintaining flexibility.

If a doctor determines that medication is appropriate, Qoctor can issue a direct ePrescription to your phone.

This allows patients to:

• Choose their own pharmacy

• Avoid waiting for medication delivery

• Reduce concerns about medications being left unattended or exposed to heat

• Access prescriptions easily, including in regional or remote areas (as some other weight loss programs cannot deliver in certain rural locations)

Many people find this approach fits better with how they already manage their healthcare.

Qoctor offers LIVE CHAT customer support from 8am to midnight, providing real-time assistance.

This can help with:

• Questions before booking

• Appointment or technical support

• General enquiries without waiting for an email response

For patients using telehealth alongside busy schedules, easy access to support can make a real difference, especially the first time you are making a booking.

Qoctor is designed to feel similar to seeing your local GP, just online.

As part of weight loss care, doctors can also:

• Arrange blood tests (for example blood sugar, cholesterol, or thyroid function), which are commonly needed when starting a weight loss plan.

• Discuss sleep concerns and organise sleep studies where appropriate

• Provide specialist referrals if needed

This broader medical approach helps ensure weight management is addressed safely, holistically, and sustainably, rather than in isolation.

This approach may suit people who:

• Are reluctant to sign up to a lock-in subscription, and would prefer a “pay as you go” approach.

• Want to speak directly with a doctor

• Prefer video-first telehealth

• Wish to get an ePrescription directly rather than waiting for medication delivery

• Value weight loss support integrated into general medical care

• Prefer to choose their own pharmacy for dispensing

• Appreciate real-time assistance via live chat

For many Australians, an online GP weight loss consultation offers a practical way to address weight concerns alongside other aspects of health.

Through Qoctor — and its dedicated service Doctors for Weight Loss — patients can access doctor-led, video-first telehealth care for weight management, with flexibility, transparency, and clinical oversight.

Ready to find out more? Speak to a telehealth GP for Weight Loss with today.

What is a vegan diet? 

A vegan diet, also known as plant-based, describes one that avoids any animal products. There are many subtypes of this diet, including those that sometimes include fish or honey, but for the purposes of this article we will discuss a diet that excludes all animal products. Approximately 10% of the Australian population follows some form of plant-based diet. There are many reasons you may follow a vegan diet, including cultural, personal, ethical, enviromental and health-related. In recent times, there has been a societal association between a vegan diet and better health, however this isn’t necessarily true in all cases.

Planning

Another risk with a vegan diet is poor planning, so that animal products are excluded but new foods aren’t introduced. For example, you may choose to go vegan and only eat fries, processed vegan foods and bread, instead of introducing legumes, tofu, fruit and vegetables into your diet. Also, many vegan desserts are high in vegetable oil and sugar, making them extremely unhealthy. It is possible to be obese and unhealthy when vegan!

Shin Splints- what is it?

• Shin Splints is also known as Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome or MTSS for short.
• It leads to pain along the shinbone, between your ankle and your knee.
• It’s often caused by over-training or by increasing the amount of running you do over a short time frame.
• Building your level of fitness and activity up more gradually may help you to avoid Shin Splints.
• The precise cause of the pain is not known, but it is believed to be a stress reaction due to the muscle and tendons pulling on the bone.

Does cutting down on smoking make much difference to your health?

“Yeah, I still smoke, but I’ve cut right back, I’m down to one or two a day”

These are words doctors often hear when they ask people about their smoking habits. While it may mean things are moving in the right direction, how much of an impact does cutting down (rather than quitting) actually make to your risk of having a heart attack or stroke? Does reducing to one cigarette a day mean a 20 times lower risk of heart attack compared to a smoker of 20 a day? Unfortunately, some new research suggests that it doesn’t work this way.

Are there ANY  benefits to cutting down?

Of course, there are still some benefits to cutting down, which are unrelated to heart disease and stroke—such as the risk of lung cancer and other forms of cancer, so any reduction is good news. But the above research may be a wake-up call for people who thought that smoking one cigarette a day was almost as good as not smoking at all!

Need help to quit smoking?

If you would like to quit smoking but have had difficulty succeeding by yourself, why not speak to a doctor about medications and services that may help? Or check out http://www.quitnow.gov.au/ for further information and support.

What is heat stroke?

Heat stroke is when the core temperature of the body rises above 40C due to prolonged heat exposure or too much physical exertion in a hot environment. It is a serious condition- the natural chemical processes of the body stop working, which starts to cause damage to the brain, kidneys, liver, muscles and heart. Heat stroke is a medical emergency and requires urgent treatment.

How do I keep my child safe from heat stroke?

Babies, children (and the elderly) are more at risk of heat stroke, so extra care should be taken in hot weather.

• Small babies should be breast or bottle fed more frequently in warm weather
• Older kids should be given extra water through the day. Babies above the age of 6 months can have their breast-feeding or formula supplemented with cooled boiled water with or between usual feeds.
• Clothing should be suitable- light and loose.
• On extreme heat days, it may be best to stay cool indoors.
• Air needs to circulate around carseats, prams and strollers- they should not be covered with blankets
• And never, ever leave a small child in a car on a hot day, not even for a minute. The temperature inside a parked car can be 30-40°C hotter than outside, and most of this increase in temperature happens within 5 minutes of closing the car (even if the windows are left open)

If you have concerns about  the risk of heat stroke, speak to your doctor.

We all know we should be sun-smart and steer clear of sunburn at all costs- but now and then it happens accidentally, due to a quick snooze in the sun or a long afternoon on the beach. So, if the damage has been done, what is the best treatment?

What is the best treatment for sunburn?

• Anti-inflammatories may reduce inflammation and discomfort, especially if given early, though they do not heal the sunburn faster. Other painkillers such as Paracetamol may also help.
• Soaks with cold water may also reduce pain. Cold running water may give more relief than a soak or compress.

What are B vitamins? Are you getting enough Vitamin B12?

Vitamins are substances that occur naturally in food, and are needed for many essential body functions. There are 13 vitamins required by our body- and 8 of these are types of Vitamin B. The B Vitamins have a wide variety of important roles in the body, particularly in relation to growth, repair and energy production. Whilst most healthy people who eat a broad and balanced diet will get enough B vitamins from their food, you can become deficient (low) in these vitamins for a variety of reasons.

You can develop low B12 if there is not enough of it in your diet, if you’re unable to absorb the vitamin properly, or if your body is using it up more quickly than usual (e.g. in pregnancy).

How is Vitamin B12 deficiency diagnosed?

Your doctor can check your Vitamin B12 levels by requesting a blood test. A full blood count (FBC) may be done, as anaemia is a complication of low B12. Folate levels tend to be assessed with B12, as folate and B12 have closely related roles in your body. If  you have low B12, a blood test to check your autoimmune antibodies may be recommended, to check for Pernicious Anaemia. You may also be advised to have a blood test for coeliac disease.

What is the treatment for low B12?

• Obviously, if you have any underlying causes such as medications, dietary issues or bowel problems, these should be identified and treated.
• Quite often a course of B12 injections will be prescribed by your doctor, as this will restore levels to normal quickly- this method will work even if you are unable to absorb B12 properly, as it bypasses your stomach and gut.
• If your Vitamin B12 deficiency is mild, oral treatment may be tried, with Vitamin B12 tablets (though this method may not work if your stomach and gut are not absorbing it properly).
• It may also help to obtain more B12 in your diet by sourcing foods high in B12- e.g. meat, milk, eggs, cheese, yeast extracts and fortified breakfast cereals.
• It’s important to discuss follow-up with your doctor- you may need to have your levels rechecked after treatment to ensure they do not drop again.

For more information on Vitamin B12 deficiency or the symptoms of low B12 speak to your doctor.

We can all feel tired from time to time, but when tiredness hangs around for weeks or months it can start to make people worry there’s something wrong, and they’ll often come to the doctor for a check up.

The good news is that it’s rarely a sign of anything serious- though sometimes it can take a while to figure out what’s causing it, as there are many aspects of physical and mental health that need to be considered.

Here are 10 common causes of tiredness that doctors will usually consider. Some may seem obvious, but often the simple things, such as a good night’s sleep, have been overlooked!

Sleep

Very often a patient will come to the doctor saying, “I’m tired and I don’t know why”, but when asked about the quality of their sleep they’ll immediately admit they are not getting enough, or that it’s broken and irregular. There may be an obvious disruption to sleep, such as working night shifts or parenting a baby who wakes a lot. Sometimes, the sleeping environment itself needs attention- in terms of light, noise or temperature. Others will admit they are not “switching off” properly for one reason or another- this might relate to stress, using screens, caffeine or smoking late into the evening.

There are also some medical conditions that can affect sleep. Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) and depression can cause insomnia and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea can significantly reduce sleep quality, often leading to tiredness by day. Too much sleep can also be a bad thing- if an adult regularly sleeps for more than 11 hours a night it can actually cause a vicious circle of increased tiredness!

The ideal amount of sleep varies from person to person, so it’s not necessarily about hitting a certain number of hours- it’s more about sleeping enough to function well, feel rested and refreshed. If sleep is a problem or you have insomnia, it’s worth speaking to your GP, as there are many factors which need to be explored.

Alcohol and drugs

If you drink a lot of alcohol or take recreational drugs, it can have major impact on your energy levels- cutting out these culprits will often make a massive difference. If you have difficulty cutting back, you should speak to your doctor or a counsellor.

Medication

Tiredness can also be a side effect of medications- such as antihistamines (even supposedly “non-drowsy” ones), antidepressants, blood pressure tablets and others- so, check with your doctor if you’re not sure.

Viral illness

Any viral illness can cause tiredness. However, in most cases this just lasts for a few days, until the virus is cleared from your body. However, some viruses can lead to tiredness for weeks or months. Your GP may check you for the viruses that cause Glandular Fever (EBV and CMV), particularly if you’ve recently had a sore throat or a rash. Ross River Fever is another potential culprit- it can lead to several weeks of bad fatigue. With most viral illnesses, there is no specific treatment- the body will recover over time.

Other systemic illness

Many other conditions can lead to tiredness- including low Vitamin B12, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and autoimmune illnesses. However, in most cases, there will be other signs and symptoms that will help your doctor make the diagnosis.

When should I see a doctor with my tiredness?

• If you have other symptoms with it- such as fever, breathlessness, chest pain, dizziness, weight loss or a skin rash.
• If it continues for more than a week or two, and there’s no obvious cause
• If you think you have depression or anxiety
• If you’ve already seen a doctor about it, but the tiredness does not improve or gets worse, you should go back for a reassessment.