Policies

The clinic welcomes all feedback; please write out the feedback and place it in our feedback box in the waiting room. If you need to make a complaint, the contact number of the Health Complaints Commissioner is: 1300 582 113.

Our practice policy for obtaining test results is to book an appointment with the doctor to get the result. If a patient has a blood test done, the patient is advised to book an appointment 2-3 days after the blood or specimen is taken. The receptionist will offer to make an appointment for the patient to see the doctor after the consultation, for discussing the blood test result. Our practice will also send text message to notify patients to book an appointment with our doctor to discuss an abnormal result. Please ensure your telephone number and address is correct and up to date. If you do not wish to be part of this system please let us know. We cannot give the result over the phone or email to patient due to confidentiality and security issues.

For childrens’ immunisation, and any other procedure such as dressings, blood test or ear syringing please book an appointment to see our doctor with reception (we have a nurse on duty to assist with the procedure, appointment necessary).

Our practice policy in returning phone calls from a patient is as follows:

For extremely urgent matters, the receptionist will transfer the call to the doctor if the doctor is not currently doing an important procedure or operation.

Otherwise for all other requests, the call will be returned after the doctor has finished the shift.

Please note that patient may be charge private billing for telephone consult, please ask receptionist for more detail.

There are a number of other after hours GP services and home visiting doctors available in the local area.

Outside our practice hours, patients can contact the After Hours GP Helpline on 1800 022 222 or search the National Health Services Directory at www.nhsd.org.au to find a service that is open after hours.

The following locum services provide bulk-billed home visits:

South Eastern Deputising Service  9793 7777

Hello Home Doctor Service 134 100

Alternatively, for an emergency, the patient can attend Warragul  hospital at 41 Landsborough St, Warragul VIC 3820 or call ambulance. The telephone number for Warragul Hospital emergency department is 5623 0611. The number to ring for ambulance is 000.

Our Practice follows this procedure when transferring health record from another practice:

• Ask the patient to sign our ‘transfer of records form’ indicating consent for their previous practice to forward a copy or summary of their health record to us. Please note the previous practice might request a fee for the transfer of full notes and this is entirely outside of our control.
• Ensure that the patient has provided written consent.

It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times and to ensure this information is only available to authorised members of staff.  Our privacy and security policy is available on request.