Patient Information

Our practice has an appointment system for consultations, assisting us in the smooth running of consultations. However, there are inevitable delays sometimes and you may be kept waiting. We sincerely apologize for this delay.

When making your appointment, IF you feel your situation might take longer time to discuss than the standard appointment time, i.e., 10-15 minutes, kindly inform the receptionist of the same and they would book you in for an EXTENDED CONSULTATION. Examples of this type of consultation includes multiple health issues, emotional issues, excision biopsy of skin, life insurance medicals, heart (ECG) checks etc. Of course, we always make provision and time for URGENT consultations, particularly for sick children.

Longer consultation are required for Chronic Disease Management and Care Plans, Drivers Medicals and Work Medicals, Work cover etc. Kindly inform the reception when you book your appointment for a long consultation.

We are NOT a bulk billing practice. But we try our best to bulk bill eligible patients as we feel that everyone has a right to good healthcare, and wish to provide an affordable service to the community. We can only bill Medicare for patients actually seen which makes patient attendances very important to us. If you cannot make it to an appointment, please contact the surgery immediately, to give us the opportunity to book other patients during this time. If you do not show up for an appointment, you will be charged a NON-ATTENDANCE FEE.

We are not a BULK BILLING clinic. However, our doctors can bulk bill their patients at their discretion. We do charge facility fees to patients for procedures performed and these charges are not medicare rebatable. There are also other consults that are not eligible for BULK BILLING as per government guidelines. Examples include pre-employment health-checks, travel vaccinations, driver’s license health check for professional drivers, overseas students and tourists without access to Medicare etc.

All fees should be paid on the day. Patients that have outstanding invoices should pay their dues before trying to make another appointment.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners defines “GENERAL PRACTICE as: “A practice that provides person centred, continuing, comprehensive and coordinated whole-person health care to individuals and families in their communities.”. We sincerely feel that the services offered by us fit comfortably within these guidelines.

All patients’ consultations and records are kept strictly confidential and cannot be discussed or reproduced. It is our practice policy to maintain security of personal health information at all times and ensure that this information is only available to authorized members of staff.

When unattended, a recorded phone message will direct you to the emergency/after-hours service to GP care, Mount Barker @ 1300 GP CARE (1300 472 273). For non-urgent health concerns, you can also call healthdirect helpline at any time on 1800 022 222. In case of an emergency please call 000. For issues with Woodside patients, requiring immediate medical advice, that cannot wait for you to see your regular GP the following day, please hold the line and one of our health professionals will answer your call. 

For logistical reasons home visits are only offered when it is very difficult for the sick person to come to the surgery. These are at the doctors’ discretion. Please discuss with your doctor if you feel a visit is required.

We use TIS (Translating and Interpreting Service) when necessary.

Medical certificates are legal documents. These are available only if you are present for a consultation with one of our doctors. We cannot issue medical certificates without you actually seeing the doctor, and we do not issue medical certificates retrospectively.

We are available on Facebook and not on any other social media. However, we do not routinely check the messenger and do not answer your queries. Any questions, please call the Surgery during the office hours. The facebook page is maintained only to update our patients with health related information and rarely to advertise job vacancies. 

There are multiple ways this practice will communicate with patients and other third parties, telephone being the most common, followed by fax, email and rarely text messages.

Our reception staff may use a triage system to assess the urgency of the patients’ needs and concerns. They will also perform a three-point identifier check to ensure the correct patient chart is matched to the patient on the phone.

When correspondence is received from other healthcare providers, it is directly imported into the patient’s file and then sent through to the doctor to review. This includes results, emails and specialist letters. If the addressed doctor is not available and the correspondence is urgent, another doctor will review and action as necessary.

Communication by Post – for patients who have opted out of SMS, a letter may be sent regarding reminders or recalls. Letters received by the practice are scanned into the patient chart and forwarded to the doctor to review.

Communicating with patients with special needs
A contact list of translator and interpreter services and services for patients with a disability is maintained, updated regularly and readily available to all staff at reception. These include:
• National Relay Service (NRS) for hearing impaired
• Translation and Interpreter Service (TIS) Doctors Priority Line 1300 131 450