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Consultation by appointment is preferred but patients who are very ill will be seen without appointment with as little delay as possible.  Urgent medical problems like injuries, do take priority on appointments.

When making an appointment please indicate the name of the patient to be seen, your preferred doctor, whether the consultation is in regard to a WorkCover related problem or Medical examination and report or any complex or multiple problems or overseas vaccination.

These consults may require additional time or for the most appropriate specialised Doctor to be allocated to you.  It may be necessary to explain the billing arrangements to you.  Medicare may not make payments for some Medicals.

At Guardian Medical we try to keep pre-arranged appointments.  Your Doctor may be running behind time due to a number of unpredictable daily events.  If your Doctor is running behind time please understand that this is a result of servicing patients.  If you are unable to keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible as another patient may then be able to see a Doctor.  Whenever possible each patient may see the Doctor, he or she chooses but it may not be possible to see your Doctor of choice at every visit nor at the time of your choosing.

If you are unable to attend for a scheduled appointment, please contact us to cancel or change your appointment time. As a courtesy we send out appointment reminders to the mobile number on file and request a minimum of 2 hours’ notice if you are unable to attend.

We have high demand for appointments and many patients miss out on seeing the doctor of their choice or even obtaining an appointment at all. Late cancellation of failing to attend does not allow the appointment to be offered to someone else seeking treatment.

A fee will be charged for failure to attend or cancellation at short notice, less than 2 hours on the day (NB: this fee does not attract a Medicare rebate).

Patient Satisfaction affects health outcomes and this Practice acknowledges that patient complaints are an important source of customer feedback.

Under the Health Services (Conciliation and Review) Act 1987 people with complaints should try to resolve them directly with the health service provider.  If a satisfactory outcome is not achieved then the complaint can go directly to the Health Complaints Commissioner for action.  The public may also call the office of the Health Services Commissioner at any time concerning a query or to report one.  The phone number for the Commissioner’s department is 1300 582 113.

If you have an emergency please telephone 000 or go to your nearest Emergency Department.

It is always desirable for patients to be seen at the Centre as your Doctor can examine and treat you more efficiently where all our facilities are available.  If, however, the patient is too ill to attend the Centre then a house call can be arranged where such visits are deemed safe and reasonable.  Please ring as early as possible in the day for arrangements to be made.  Generally, bulk billing is not available for such calls.

Under the Federal Privacy Act patients are only permitted access to medical information, which was processed on or after 21st December 2001.

A Medical Records Access Form can be obtained from the Reception Staff as well as a payment schedule guide in relation to fees and charges applicable.  Access to medical records will be granted following a 21-day preparation period commencing once the request for access is lodged.

Medical certificates are available and can be requested at the time of consultation with your doctor.

If you require a special consideration certificate, please bring the necessary paperwork to your consultation.

We strongly urge you to make an appointment for all prescriptions as repeat prescriptions will not be issued by phone request.  Mistakes can be made over the phone with drug names and strengths of medications.  Drug interactions and control checks on your health problems need to be made by your Doctor.  Your Doctor may know of all the medicines you are using and there may be a conflict between medications used.  It is necessary for a record of all prescriptions given to be recorded in your file.

Our practice is committed to preventative care.  Your doctor will seek your permission to be included in our reminder system.  We may issue you with a reminder notice from time to time offering you preventative health services appropriate to your care.  If you do not wish to be part of this system please let your doctor or receptionist know.

Phone Calls – Routine phone calls to Doctors are not encouraged during busy consulting sessions.  All calls will be screened by reception and urgent calls put through to the Doctor at the end of each consultation.  Routine calls may be returned at the end of the consulting session.

Emails – The practice does not transfer patient information via email unless it is securely encrypted according to industry and best practice standards.

A suggestion box is located in the main waiting area.  We will be very happy to hear your comments and suggestions as to how we can better our service to you.

Your medical document is a confidential document.  It is the policy of this practice to maintain the security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.  We abide by the 10 National Privacy Principles available at www.privacy.gov.au

The doctor will advise when they expect your results to arrive at the practice. In most instances, advice of “normal” test results will be sent to you by regular mail.

In the event of a clinically significant result, you will be contacted as soon as possible to make a follow-up appointment to discuss the results with your doctor.

Please ensure that you advise us of any change to your contact details.

Patient files will be transferred upon signed request from the patient to the new Medical Practitioner.  A fee will be charged in relation to the transfer and the cost will be based on the size of the file to be transferred.  The fee will have to be paid prior to the file being transferred.

We believe in providing patients with appropriate preventative health information, recall / reminders and other health related information that will support your health and wellbeing. As a patient you have the option to be included in the preventative health management program; you have the right to opt-out and should you wish to do so please advise your GP.