What to bring?

What should I bring with me when I come for a scheduled office appointment?
Apart from Medicare and your insurance information:

• Any correspondance or medial information relevant to you current condition
• Medicare card, DVA card, Pension Card, Work cover claim number
• Copies of results, x-rays, MRI’s. CT scans etc and any other relevant information

What should I expect during first visit?

During your initial visit, the doctor will explain the specific test or procedure or treatment, help you visualize any test results and go over the risks.
The doctor may do a physical examination and ask you a bunch of questions. Once you  have had any ordered tests done, the doctor will analyse the results and on the next consultation will decide what your diagnosis and appropriate treatment and plan of action.

Referrals

How can my family doctor help me to obtain specialist medical care?
Before seeing any medical specialist, it is always preferable to talk to your own family doctor, who can discuss your condition with you and advise on whether any specialist care is appropriate. If it is, he or she can help you to choose the specialist best suited to your needs. Your family doctor can help the specialist to care for you better by providing relevant information about your health. Communicating with the specialist will also enable your family doctor to care for you better during and after your specialist treatment.
Are my medical records kept private and confidential?
Your medical file is handled with the utmost respect for your privacy. Our staff are bound by strict confidentiality requirements as a condition of employment regarding your medical records. Ordinarily we will not release the contents of your medical file without your consent.

During Your First Visit

You will be greeted at reception upon arrival.

Medical History

• Current symptoms
• Current medications
• Previous problems
• Previous diagnostic imaging
• Risk factors, lifestyle and family history

Honesty is important as it provides all the information needed to assess and properly treat you.

Physical Examination

Perform a clinical examination.

Diagnostic Imaging

You may require more diagnostic testing to confirm the doctors diagnosis.

Questions?

For any questions or concerns, feel free to raise them without reluctance or

Appointment Policy

Your time is valuable. We endeavour to run on schedule and your punctual attendance will assist this.
Feel free to ring us 30 minutes prior to your appointment to confirm if we are running on time.

Late Arrivals

We do understand that circumstances may arise unexpectedly, however, late arrivals can compromise the service we are able to provide to you, and can also inconvenience other patients.

We will do our best to accommodate late arrivals, but in some instances, appointments may need to be rescheduled.

Cancellation Policy

We do ask that you contact us and give at least 24 hours notice should you need to reschedule or cancel your booking.

Due to the difficulty of filling last-minute cancellations, and if we are unable to book an alternative patient, it will be necessary to charge a $30 fee for missed appointments or last-minute cancellations.

Regular cancellations or cancellations with less than 24-hour notice may incur a cancellation fee.
We consider this a last resort, as our motivating concern is the quality of service we are able to provide you and our other patients.

No Show Policy

For unattended appointments without notice, we may charge a $50 fee.
We may require a credit card on file to reserve your appointment. If you don’t have your credit card on file, you may only be allowed to come in on a walk-in basis if available.

After Your Appointment

Diagnosis and Recommendations

After reviewing any diagnostic results, We will recommend appropriate treatment.

Treatment

Where a Treatment Option is recommended you may need to understand and consider the following:

• Further preoperative medical evaluations to determine suitability for the procedure,
• Further diagnostic evaluations including pathology and imaging,
• Potential risks and complications
• Planning and recovery time
• Counselling to ensure that the informed consent obtained is fully understood.

Be Aware of:

• Any infections prior to surgery, as they may delay a procedure until the infection is cleared,
• Any tooth, gum, bladder or bowel problems to reduce complications,
• Anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) or other medications that may need to be paused,
• Stop smoking to reduce your surgery risks and improve recovery
• Consider losing weight (if overweight)

If you have any specific concerns or fears regarding your condition or treatment we recommend contacting the practice for clarification.