Practice Policies

Appointments

Our clinic uses an appointment system to help reduce waiting times; therefore, you will need to make an appointment to see the doctor or the psychologist. Please make a separate appointment for each person attending. We allocate 15 minutes per appointment for the Doctor and 50 minutes for the Psychologist. If you are a new patient, have a number of issues to discuss, or feel you may require longer than 15 minutes with the doctor, please advise the receptionist when making your appointment.

Our clinic has a computerised reminder and recall system in place for preventative health care covering a wide range of health care such as Pap Smears, Immunisations, Diabetes and Asthma reviews and many more. For more information about this, please ask your doctor or the receptionist.

Non-Attendance and Accounts

We have a $55 fee for non-attendance/cancellation of a medical appointment within 2 hours of the allotted time. These fees differ for the psychologist.

Please be aware of our policy on accounts for all services:

Our Practice doesn’t offer accounts. Once the service is supplied, payment is expected and appreciated immediately following your consult. We cannot provide quality care without adequate payment for our services.

If the consult fee is not paid within 7 days of the date of service, an administration fee of $15 is added to the account and you will be unable to make appointments or access further services until the account is paid in full.

Patients with fees outstanding after 30 days may be referred to a debt collection agency and risk no longer being seen in the practice. Costs incurred for debt collection will be added to outstanding fees.

Home Visits

These are available during clinic hours for regular patients of the practice if your condition prevents you from attending the clinic, Please notify the receptionist as early in the day as possible so that the doctor can arrange their time accordingly. For details regarding home visit fees, please ask the receptionist.

Fees and Payment

Payment for services is required at the time of the service being provided. We have Eftpos and credit card facilities available for your convenience. If you are experiencing difficulty in paying please speak to the doctor at the time of consultation.
Health Care Card holders and Pensioners are charged a discounted fee on production of their health care card or pension card.
Our consultation fees and home visit fees are displayed in the waiting room and fees for additional services are available from the receptionist. If you are referred to another doctor or specialist, the doctor or receptionist will inform you regarding their fee structure. Pathology, X-Ray and other additional services may also charge a fee for their services.
Workers Compensation and Third Party Insurance fees are higher than standard fees to cover the additional reporting requirements and we ask that patients pay accounts on the day of the consultation and seek reimbursement from their employer or insurer.
With the assistance of Medicare, our practice is able to offer an online patient claiming service. This enables a patient to claim their Medicare benefit at our surgery instead of attending a Medicare office. If a patient pays for their consultation in full, they can elect to have their Medicare benefit paid by electronic funds transfer (EFT) into their nominated bank account. If you would like to know more about this service, please ask the receptionist.

Test Results

Please phone the clinic and our reception staff will advise you if the doctor requires you to have a follow-up appointment. Test result are not given over the phone.

Repeat Prescriptions / Referrals

In the best interests of your health care, our doctors will not issue repeat prescriptions without a consultation. Where a doctor believes it appropriate to make an exception, an administration fee will be charged.

Transfer of Records

If you would like to move your medical records from Wickham Clinic to a different GP clinic, we will promptly arrange a Health Summary to be sent to your new clinic.

We do not charge a fee for sending a Health Summary to another clinic, but we reserve the right to charge a fee covering our costs if the other clinic requests your file be sent by disc or paper as there are significant printing and/or postage costs. If this applies, we will contact you about the fee.

Telephoning Doctors/Psychologist

The doctors/psychologist may be contacted by phone during surgery hours. In an emergency, your call will be transferred to the doctor/psychologist, otherwise, leave a message and the doctor/psychologist will contact you when available.

Management of Health Information

This clinic has an effective system in managing patient information. In line with National Privacy Principles, our clinic has a document, commonly named a privacy policy, which clearly sets out our policies on handling personal information, including health information and will be made available to anyone who requests it. Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of your personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.

Feedback

We welcome any feedback that you have about the practice and ask that you address these to Sophie (Practice Manager), or your Doctor or Psychologist. We are always looking to help improve our service so if you would like to make any suggestion, ask one of our friendly administration staff for a suggestions form in the waiting room and we would appreciate your input.

Complaints

We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns
you may have in writing. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure.
The Office Manager
5 Charles Street
Wickham, NSW, 2293
Email: admin@wickhamclinic.com.au

If you feel that there is a problem that you need to take up outside the practice you
may access:
The Health Care Complaints Commission
Locked Bag 18
STRAWBERRY HILLS NSW 2012

Our surgery has a non-smoking policy. We thank you for your cooperation.