Salisbury & Sunnybank Medical Centres

Appointments

We will always provide the first appointment for the doctor of your choice. If you have an emergency or urgent problem you may have your visit directed to the first available doctor. We use an appointment system so you know when you are seeing your doctor. However, problems may arise with emergencies, or people presenting with complicated problems that take longer to see than a standard appointment. Remember, a 15 minute appointment is designed for one problem. We apologise for delays, but we cannot always avoid these due to the above. To try to minimise delays, ask for a longer appointment if you have complicated or multiple problems.

Emergencies

If you feel you have an emergency, please let the receptionist know immediately. The situation will be assessed by one of our doctors or nurses. If it is felt that you require urgent hospital assessment you may be asked to ring 000.

Fees

The doctors bulk-bill pensioners, veterans, health care card holders and children under 16. The common fees for other consultations are as follows:

It is the policy of this practice that payment is made at the time of the consultation.

House calls

The doctors of this practice will do house visits for regular patients if necessary, although whenever possible patients are encouraged to attend the surgery. Pensioners, health care card holders, veterans, retirement village and nursing home patients will be bulk-billed and for everyone else there will be a fee of $80.

Prescriptions

For prescriptions we require people to make an appointment. Often these medications are part of a long term management of your health and we need to regularly review the management to make sure we have it as well tuned as we can. In selected cases your doctor may agree to a phone prescription, but we must have 24 hours notice.Specialist Referrals

Appointments are needed to provide referrals. Please remember that referrals are a legal document and are therefore unable to be back-dated. The Health Department expects us to have assessed your problem and send you to the appropriate specialist to minimise time delays in diagnosis and treatment. The specialist expects us to provide them with a summary of your past health and to have done all appropriate tests before seeing them. It is therefore an important document.

Certificates

Like referrals, these too are legal documents and they therefore are unable to be back-dated. We are legally bound to have assessed you at the time of the illness before providing such a certificate.

Results

You may have tests ordered to investigate a symptom or as part of preventative care programs. Due to the Privacy Act and other potential legal complications, we are restricted from giving out results on the phone in all situations. If tests are totally normal and are part of a well person check up, the results may be discussed with our RN between 11am and 3pm.

We cannot discuss results at other times as nurses are busy caring for ill patients. If your tests are to investigate a symptom or are part of a review of management plans e.g. diabetes or hypertension, we need a consultation to properly deal with and discuss these results and how they will affect future management. We try to minimise waiting times for return consultations. Depending on the complexity and length of this consultation, you may be bulk-billed or a fee may apply.

Vaccinations

Parents must remember to bring their child's immunisation/baby book. Vaccinations for overseas travel should be discussed with your doctor during a consultation as soon as possible after booking your holiday.

Recall & reminder system

We offer a recall system to our patients for pap smears, immunisations, health assessments etc. If you would like your name added to our recall list, speak to your doctor or the registered nurse.