Patient Information

Review on 4^th October 2023

Fees (please note fees may change from time to time)

All Medicare related consultations and most home visits are bulk billed to Medicare. Most pathology or x-ray services you may require are also bulk billed.  To be bulk billed, you must bring with you a current Medicare card and pension card or concession card.  Patients without a current Medicare card will be charged a $60 fee for a standard consultation which must be paid at the time of the consultation, longer appointments will incur additional fees.  Some services, including medical screenings for work or vehicle licenses, cannot be billed to Medicare and will incur additional fee.

Home Visiting and After-Hours Attendances

Home visiting is available to patients who have attended the medical clinic within the previous 12 months. Home visiting and after-hours attendance are provided by our Home Doctor Service Telephone 137425. Your request for after hours home visit consultation will be triaged by the call Clinic prior to any attendance.

Appointments

Appointments can be made online, over the phone, or in person. If you do have an urgent health condition, please advise reception upon arrival or at the time of booking. Standard consultations are 15 minutes with our GPs. Double appointments are available if you feel more time will be required. Longer appointments are generally advised for situations such as first antenatal visits, pap smears, multi-country travel vaccinations, and Medicare care plans. Appointments enable the doctor to manage his time so as to accommodate all patients.  There is often also a need to deal with urgent problems and to see patients who need unexpected medical attention.  We are therefore happy to see patients who ‘walk in’ without an appointment.  Patients with appointments are given priority whilst ‘walk in’ patients may have a wait.

After Hours

This practice provides 24-hour access to a GP. If an urgent health matter occurs outside opening hours, please contact our main phone number for information regarding the After-hour doctor service. For After Hours Home Visiting please call Tel: 13 7425.In an emergency dial 000 for an ambulance or present to the closest hospital, Box Hill Hospital, 8 Arnold St, Box Hill VIC 3128 (Ph: 1300 342 255)

Childhood immunisations

Childhood Immunisations are typically provided by our Practice Nurse after consultation with your doctor. The Immunisation record is automatically sent electronically to the Government Immunisation Register

X-ray Films:

 If you have had an x-ray the films can be collected at the reception desk for you to keep.  If you are referred to a specialist in relation to these x-rays you will need to take the films with you to your appointment.  

Patient Privacy

Your medical records are confidential.  Our policy is to maintain security of your personal health information at all times. In the interests of providing quality health care we have developed

a privacy policy that complies with the Commonwealth Government legislation and recognises the rights of our patients to privacy.Information leaflets are available at the centre outlining our policy.  Further information regarding the legislation is available from Federal Privacy Commissioner, Free Call 1300.363.992 or www.privacy.gov.au

Engaging with Other Services

In order to assist in providing coordinated care, our clinic maintains a directory of local health related services and an on-going professional relationship with many of these providers. Doctors and Nurses engage with local medical services including diagnostic services, hospitals and specialist consultant services, primary healthcare nurses, allied health services, pharmacists, disability and community services, and health promotion and public health services and programs. Depending on the service provided (e.g. Pap smears, vaccinations) your health information may be forwarded to National/State Reminder Systems/Registers. By signing our patient registration from you will be consenting to the above.

Transfer of Medical Records

If you wish to transfer your health record to our clinic from another clinic please complete the Transfer of Medical Records form. Fees may be charged by the other clinic. If you wish to transfer your record from this clinic to another clinic please ask the new clinic/provider to arrange for this to occur.

Patient Feedback

We believe that problems of any sort are best dealt with by the practice and we would always wish to know if you were unhappy with any aspect of our service.  Patient questionnaires are available at the reception desk.  Your suggestions and input into how we can improve our service is always welcome.    However, if there is a problem which you wish to clarify with the office for handling health industry complaints you should contact the  Health Complaints Commissioner, 26^th Floor, 570 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 3000. Call 1300 582 113 between 9.30am and 3.00pm, Monday to Friday

Telephone contact with your Doctor

Doctors in this practice can be contacted during surgery hours.  If the doctor is with a patient when you call a message will be taken for the doctor to return your call later.  In emergencies a doctor will always take the call.

Communication

Our patients are able to obtain timely advice or information related to their clinical care by telephone and electronic means (where in use) where a general practitioner determines that this is clinically safe and that a face-to-face consultation is unnecessary for that patient.

Emails and Faxes are checked regularly throughout each working day but in the event or an emergency/urgency it is best to call the surgery.

 Communication Services

The clinic is able to arrange free telephone or in-person interpreters through the Translating and Interpretive Service. The National Relay Service is also available for people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment. Alternatively, a family member or other person may be present for a consultation with the patient’s consent.

Reminders & Recalls:

All results must be reviewed by a GP before being given to the patient. In the event that your GP requests an appointment or specific information is to be given regarding your results, the practice nurse (or receptionist) will attempt to contact you either via text or phone call over supplied contact numbers on at least three occasions after which a registered mail is sent to the patient with the doctor’s consent. Should the matter be of urgency or importance, multiple attempts to contact you will be made and documented.

We may not always call you to give you test results, but if you don’t hear from us you are more than welcome to see one of our nurses or call for your results. Please be aware, test results are confidential and will only be given to you directly, unless you give permission for your doctor to communicate them to another person on your behalf.

Our practice is committed to preventative care and has a system of registering patients for recall for clinically significant results and preventative advice.  We also participate in the use of registers in national/state reminder systems. We may issue you with a reminder notice from time to time as appropriate. Please advise the receptionist / viz. your Patient Registration form if you do not wish to participate in these programs.

Are you interested in receiving reminders by SMS or email?  If so, leave your mobile number and email address with our Receptionist

 No Smoking Policy

Our practice is smoke/tobacco/vape/etc. free in all areas including the car park. Please extinguish all smoking products before entering the car park and do not smoke while in the car park or outside entrances. Your doctor or nurse will be happy to discuss smoking cessation programs with you.

Occupational Violence/Harassment/Unreasonable Behaviour Policy

All staff and visitors have the right to a safe and comfortable environment. Any form of violence, intimidation, harassment, bullying, etc. is not tolerated.