GENERAL    PATIENT   INFORMATION

APPOINTMENTS

12 to 15 minutes is allotted for a normal appointment. * If you consider that a longer time may be required, please discuss this with the receptionist when making your appointment.
Longer appointments will be necessary for insurance and employment medicals, diving and racing medicals, superannuation medicals, removal of moles and other lesions, full medical examinations, driving medicals for heavy vehicles or taxis and first antenatal visits.
Long appointments are also required for chronic disease and mental health care plan preparation.

When attending for your appointment, please report to the reception desk. Please tell the receptionist at the time of requesting the appointment if the problem is urgent - for example, chest pain, acute asthma or severe migraine.

CANCELLED APPOINTMENTS - If you are unable to keep an appointment, please notify us as early as possible so that we may allot the time to another person.

WALK IN CLINIC

A 'Walk In' Clinic operates at Tea Tree Surgery each week day from 2 pm to 6.00 pm. The clinic is designed to cater for patients who need to be seen on that day, but for whom no regular appointments are available. The clinic will operate similarly to our out of hours clinics - a duty doctor will see patients in the order that they arrive, and no appointments will be necessary - waiting time will be unpredictable.
The duty doctor will deal with the immediate problem - if follow up is required or more complex issues are also involved another scheduled appointment can then be booked.
Normal fees will apply. Where possible, patients are asked to present by 5.00 pm.

CONTINUITY of CARE – having a regular doctor and seeing him or her whenever possible.

Seeing the same doctor whenever possible has been consistently shown to improve health outcomes – this is particularly the case for ongoing complaints or during a particular episode of illness. Observing often subtle changes in a patient is critical in making a diagnosis or determining treatment – seeing the same doctor is the only real way of detecting such change.
There are many examples where seeing the regular doctor would have resulted in much better outcomes.

It is our practice policy to encourage patients to see their usual doctor whenever possible.

HOUSE CALLS

Where necessary, house-calls will be made. To enable us to plan the day, it is appreciated if house-calls are booked as early in the day as possible.

TEST RESULTS

Patients are reminded that they must always either have an appointment with their doctor or telephone for ALL test results.

TELEPHONE MESSAGES

All messages will be taken by the receptionist and relayed to the doctor concerned. A consultation will not normally be interrupted to answer the telephone.
Patients are requested to ring after 10.00 am for routine test results.

IMMUNISATION

A full range of routine immunisations is available at all times - an appointment is necessary. Many immunisations are now available through the daily Nurse Clinics. click for details

PRESCRIPTIONS and REFERRALS

Repeat prescriptions and specialist re-referrals will not normally be issued without doctor - patient contact. Where it has been agreed that such repeats will be issued, 24 hours notice is required and a fee of $5 for prescriptions, and $5 for re-referrals is charged on each occasion.
Drs M Hart, Czechowicz and LePoidevin provide an emailed repeat script and re-referral service via this web site -  CLICK HERE for the service.
SICKNESS CERTIFICATES will not be issued unless a doctor has been consulted in relation to that illness, and can not be back dated.
The Medical Health Act requires that a doctors assessment should take place prior to any referral if a Medicare reimbursement is to be paid - hence retrospective specialist referral forms will not be issued.

FEES

The fees charged for professional services are available on request and detailed on the FEES page of this website. The fees are not equivalent to the government determined "Schedule Fee".
Repatriation Gold Card, Pension Concession Card and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders as well as children less than 16 years of age, are BULK-BILLED at all times.
Patients holding current Health Care Cards are BULK-BILLED for surgery visits at all times EXCEPT out of hours (after 12 noon Saturdays and all day Sundays and Public Holidays) when  Health Care Card holders will receive an account requiring a gap payment. Health Care Card Holders will also receive an account for all home visits.
The appropriate card must be produced at each visit.

It is our policy that payment be made at the time of the consultation.

Special consideration may be given to patients experiencing financial difficulty - please mention it to your doctor.

If you should have any problems or queries relating to accounts, please contact our account staff on 8264 3333 during office hours.

PATIENT FEEDBACK

Our practice endeavours to provide a comprehensive, high quality service for patients. At times we may invite you to complete a questionnaire to identify areas in which we may improve that service.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of our care we are keen to hear about it. Please discuss any problem you may have with your doctor or our practice manager, Pauline Murphy.
If you wish to pursue the problem outside of the practice, information is available from the Medical Board of South Australia, 91 Payneham Rd, St Peters  5069.

GP REGISTRARS

Our practice is accredited by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to provide post graduate training for our future general practitioners. GP Registrars working towards their FRACGP ( Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) are employed and receive part of their training at St Agnes.

TEACHING

At times during the year some practice doctors are involved in teaching - most often, medical students. Should you visit the practice when your doctor has a student in attendance, you will be asked, prior to entering the consulting room, if you consent to the student being present during the consultation. Neither the student nor your doctor will be offended if you decline.
From January 2005 our practice again become an accredited training practice for post graduate doctors working toward their Fellowship in General Practice (FRACGP).

PRIVACY

New privacy laws became effective in Australia on 21st December 2001. These laws ensure that individuals consent to the collection of personal and sensitive information about themselves, including health information. St Agnes Surgery has a Privacy Policy which describes why we collect information, the type of information we keep, how we use it and how you may access it.
All medical records and communications concerning patients are stored electronically and are available to your treating doctor at either surgery at all times.
The information is protected by a sophisticated password system. Access to our computer is not available from organisations outside the practice. Patient information is not provided to an outside body (e.g. for reports or insurance purposes) without prior written consent by the patient.
Written consent will be gained from each patient should we ever be involved in any research or similar program.
The act allows patients to access the content of their medical record by arrangement with the practice. The information is detailed in our Privacy Policy which can be viewed by clicking HERE.