Scheduling Care in Opening Hours 

To ensure your appointment will suit your needs we suggest that you make an appointment well in advance where possible.  We encourage patients to request their preferred GP at the time of booking their appointment.  Every effort will be made to accommodate your preferred time and Doctor.  Longer consultations are available, please advise reception staff when organising your appointment. The needs of patients vary widely. Our practice has a flexible system that enables us to accommodate patients with urgent, non-urgent, complex, planned chronic care and preventive health needs.   Please notify reception staff of the situation.

 

Open Access Appointments:

 

Victoria Street Clinic will run open access appointments for urgent patients when schedule permits. You are required to phone early of a morning to see if these sessions are available.

 

Teleconferences:

 

We can offer video consultations with some specialists provided your doctor considers it safe and appropriate for your care. Reception can make the appointment for you once your referral has been organised. We can offer teleconference appointments during our usual opening hours. The teleconference is held on site with your specialist and general practitioner. Please speak to your GP or ask at reception for more information.

 

SMS Reminders:

 

We have an SMS reminder system available for any extended appointments e.g. Pap Smear, Procedure, Long Consultation. If you wish to register for this reminder system please notify reception.

 

 

Missed Appointments:

 

If for some reason you are unable to keep, or no longer require your appointment, we ask that you let us know as soon as possible prior to your appointment time. This will mean fewer wasted appointments and will help us to keep waiting times down.  If you do not cancel your appointment a cancellation fee may be charged.  It is our practice policy to follow up all missed appointments.

 

Running Behind Schedule:

 

Being late is annoying for patients and stressful for staff and GPs.  We are keen to improve our lateness.  One of the problems is that our consultations are running overtime.  Just 4 minutes extra per consultation means that the doctor is 1 hour late by lunchtime.  You can help by being aware that your time with the doctor will be about 10-12 minutes, being understanding if the doctor suggests you come back to address remaining issues if they cannot all be addressed in the consultation structure, by understanding that a “fit in” appointment is for really urgent, cannot wait conditions on the day, and deal only with the one urgent problem.  Please advise the reception staff if you require a longer consultation.

 

After Hours Arrangements:

 

The practice provides 24 hour care for patients on a shared roster system with GPs from this practice and Patrick Street Clinic.  Please phone our normal number 6425 2900 for details.   After hours calls are screened by GP Assist [Tasmania].  In the case of an emergency please proceed directly to hospital or dial 000 for an ambulance.

 

 

Weekend Clinics:

 

Victoria Street Clinic and Patrick Street Clinic alternate weekend clinics. Clinics at Victoria Street Clinic will start at 9.00am on Saturday and Sunday.  Weekend clinics are sit and wait sessions only.  No appointments will be made.  Please note this is for emergency treatment only.  No routine appointments, account enquiries or phone calls.  We appreciate your co-operation in this matter.

 

Current Fees/Billing Arrangements: 

 

Payment at the time of consultation is necessary. A standard consultation is $72. We offer a $5 discount when paid on the day of consultation. The current Medicare rebate is $37.05. Longer consultations, weekend treatment, medicals and other procedures attract a higher fee; however an increased Medicare rebate is sometimes applicable as well as a reduced fee if paid on the day of consultation. Full details of all consultations including home visits are available from reception.  Please feel free to enquire.

 

Billing Procedures:

 

This is not a routine bulk billing practice.  However pensioners, health care cardholders and all patients aged 16 and under are bulk billed. 

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Transfer of Medical Records:

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If you request to transfer your medical records to another practice there will be a small fee involved.  This fee will cover administration costs and registered postage.

 

Follow up of Test Results:

 

For follow up test results an appointment is preferred, otherwise a telephone call is required.  If the test is important enough to be performed it is important enough to find out the results.  If a GP requests a pathology and/or radiology test or refers you to a specialist or another health professional, it is your responsibility to ensure this is carried out.  It is also your responsibility to contact your GP for results or arrange a follow up appointment. 

 

Prescriptions:

 

All doctors require appointments for prescriptions.

 

Home Visits:

 

Home visits are available for regular patients whose condition prevents them from attending the surgery and who live in a 10 kilometre radius of our practice. Where possible, patients are advised to come to the surgery, as more facilities are available for diagnosis and/or treatment. Please contact the surgery as early as possible to arrange your visit.

 

Phone Calls/Emails:

 

Our GPs prefer not to take telephone calls whilst consulting with another patient.  Reception staff will screen calls and if required a message will be taken for the GP concerned to return your call at a convenient time.  Your call will always be put through to the GP in an emergency. Our practice does not transfer patient’s clinical information via email unless it is encrypted.  Communications with patients via email are conducted with appropriate regard to privacy and confidentiality of patient’s health information. Patients can request a copy of our written policy on receiving and returning electronic communications.

 

Services Available:

 

Home visits, check-ups, family planning, pap smears, pregnancy tests, allergy tests, blood sugar tests, ECG (echocardiographs), diving, pilot and driving medicals, general vaccinations, minor operations, pre-employment medicals, spirometry (lung function tests), tympanometry (middle ear pressure tests), travel medical advice and vaccinations, acupuncture, sports medicine, liquid nitrogen freezing therapy for sun spots and warts, skin checks, removal of moles. Note: If you have a private script for a vaccine please purchase this immediately prior to your consultation and give to the receptionist upon your arrival to maintain the cold chain effect.

 

Specialist/Diagnostic Treatment:

 

Should it become necessary for you to have treatment by a Specialist, Pathology (Bloods), Radiology (X-Ray), Physiotherapist etc you should enquire at the time of making the appointment of any possible costs involved for all treatments, procedures and consultations? Due to the large number of Medical treatment providers it is impractical for Victoria Street Clinic to keep updated information for all of them.

 

Reminder System:

 

Our practice is committed to preventive care.  We may issue you with a reminder notice from time to time offering you preventive health services appropriate to your care.  If you do not wish to be part of this system please let us know at reception.

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Management of Personal Health Information:

 

Our practice is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your personal health information. Your medical record is a confidential document.  It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.  Your Personal Health Information and your Medical Record may be collected, used and disclosed for communicating relevant information with other treating doctors, specialists or allied health professionals, for disease notification as required by law, for legal related disclosure as required by law (e.g. subpoena, court order, suspected child abuse), for research purposes (De-identified, you are not able to be identified from the information given) and for accreditation purposes.  If you have any concerns or wish to restrict access to your personal health information please discuss these with your doctor or receptionist.  We encourage patients to request their preferred GP when booking appointments.  To provide continuity of care to patients, all doctors have access to records. We also encourage patients to assist us by letting us know if their personal information has changed. (e.g. change of address or paperwork regarding guardianship/custody etc). To assist in appropriately tailored care for our patients, we are working towards recording patients' cultural backgrounds, including self-identifying Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. Please advise reception or your GP, so we can record all relevant information. This will help in the management of your health. We also encourage patients to provide us with the name of an emergency contact person and phone number.  Should there be an emergency and we are unable to contact you this person will be phoned. We abide by the Australian Privacy Principles available at www.privacy.gov.au/health/index.html

 

My Health Record:

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My Health record (formerly E-Health) is a national digital health record system. Having a "My Health" record means you have important health information such as allergies, medical conditions and medicines digitally stored in the one place. Healthcare providers like GPs, specialists, and hospitals may be able to see these records online from anywhere nationally if required (e.g. in the case of an accident or emergency). As more people use the “My Health” record Australia’s health system will become better connected. This will result in better, faster and more efficient care for you and your family. To register for this service, go to www.myhealthrecord.gov.au.

 

Translating Services:

 

If you or a family member requires an interpreter service, we can organise this for you.  Our practice encourages patients to utilise the free Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) (131 450). The TIS is a free service available 24 hours a day via telephone at the time of consultation or onsite at the practice if 48 hours notice is given. The On-site Interpreter Booking Form is monitored between 9 am and 8 pm, Monday to Friday, Melbourne time. Outside these hours it is necessary to complete the Translating and Interpreting Service Request for On-Site Interpreting form and fax to 1300 654 151. Further information about the TIS along with the appropriate form is available on the TIS website www.immi.gov.au/tis/.

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A free interpreting service is available for patients who are deaf and use Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN). Contact the National AUSLAN Interpreter Booking and Payment Service (NABS) on 1800 246 945 or visit the NABS website www.nabs.org.au/ for further information.

 

Your Rights:

 

If you have a problem we would like to hear about it.  Please feel free to talk to your doctor or reception staff.  You may prefer to write to us or use our suggestion box located in the waiting room.  We take your concerns, suggestions and complaints seriously.  However, if you wish to take the matter further and feel that you need to discuss the matter outside of the surgery there are several options available including Health Care Complaints Commission, GPO Box 960, Hobart 7001 - www.healthcomplaints.tas.gov.au - Ph: 03 6166 4566 or Regional Freecall number Ph: 1800 001 170. Human Rights Commission – www.hreoc.gov.au, Commonwealth Ombudsman – www.combo.gov.au.

 

The National Privacy Commissioner is able to receive complaints concerning privacy issues.  Complaints will have a response within 28 days.  Privacy hotline 1300 363 992

 

Our practice provides a safe and effective working environment for our practice team and patients. Smoking is not permitted within the building.

 

Our practice is committed to quality improvement and is accredited with AGPAL

 

10 Tips for Safer Health Care

 

1. Be actively involved in your own health care

2. Speak up if you have any questions or concerns

3. Learn more about your condition or treatments

4. Keep a list of all the medicines you are taking

5. Make sure you understand the medicines you are taking

6. Get the results of any test or procedure

7. Talk about your options if you need to go into hospital

8. Make sure you understand what will happen if you need surgery or a procedure

9. Make sure you, your doctor and your surgeon all agree on exactly what will be done

10. Before you leave hospital, ask your health care professional to explain the treatment plan you will use at home.