NEW PATIENTS

Prescription requests can only be given via an appointment with your GP – whether it be a face-to-face standard appointment, or phone or video consultation.

Reception will not be able to take requests for prescriptions over the phone. This is to ensure that your doctor can thoroughly assess medication safety, review dosage, side effects and relevant preventive screening that may be due.

Prescriptions can be sent at the time of the consultation directly to patients’ mobile phones as an e-prescription QR code that can be scanned by your local pharmacist.

CALLBACKS

Once you have performed a test ordered by your doctor (e.g., pathology, imaging), you may receive an SMS message advising you either that:

1. Your results were stable and that you only need to make a follow-up appointment with your doctor if they requested, if you have ongoing symptoms, or if you have any further concerns
2. You need to make a non-urgent appointment within 7 days. This can be done by booking an appointment online.
3. Your results are urgent, and to call the clinic to make an appointment to book an urgent appointment.

CLINICAL REMINDERS

From time to time, you may receive SMS messages to remind you if you are due for a screening test (e.g., mammogram, skin check) or a health assessment or care plan.

Medical Certificates can be provided by your GP only via an appointment with your doctor. As medical certificates generally cannot be backdated, please endeavor to make an appointment with one of our doctors if you are unwell.

Please book a telephone or video consultation if you are too unwell to attend the clinic in person, or if you have any infectious symptoms.

In order for your doctors to sustainably continue delivering comprehensive, unrushed General Practice healthcare, an out-of-pocket (gap) fee may apply. Gap fees also help to cover the cost of keeping a General Practice running (rent, staff wages, medical equipment, software etc).

From 1 November 2023, the following doctors will now be Bulk-Billing all Pension & Concession Card Holders, and ALL children under 16 years of age (including new patients aged under 16):

• Dr Lily Bartlett

• Dr Kalpana Loganath

• Dr Udara Gunawardane

• Dr Kevin Aung

All other patients will incur a gap fee as per the below table.

Private fees will continue to apply to all patients (Children, Concession & Pension Card Holders) seen by:

• Dr Christopher Chang

• Dr Sharmini Mendis

• Dr Radeeka Liyanage

STANDARD PRACTICE FEES:

Please note that any last-minute urgent walk-in appointments after 5pm will be privately billed for ALL patients.

SATURDAY FEES:

On Saturdays, gap fees apply to all patients as follows:

The practice uses Medicare Online and Hicaps so the Medicare rebate can be immediately refunded to your bank account.

PROCEDURE FEES

All Procedures (skin biopsies, skin cancer excisions, laceration repairs and other minor surgical procedures) generally incur an out-of-pocket fee of $70 - $180, depending on the complexity and location of the procedure. Larger excisions and repairs, and operations on the head/neck/peripheries incur a greater gap. Please note that these fees apply to all patients - including those holding a Health Care or Pension Card, and children. Please ask your doctor about the out-of-pocket cost to your procedure. All procedures will also incur an additional $40 Consumables Fee paid to the Practice to help cover costs of anaesthetics, surgical equipment and other consumables.

For more information about Procedure Fees, please open the attached information sheet here

WorkCover NSW

All injuries that occur in the workplace, whether at-fault or not, will be billed under WorkCover and not Medicare, as per Commonwealth legislation.

We will bill the workplace insurance company only after an email from the insurance company accepting liability, with a claim number, is shown. All bills prior to that, including the initial consultation regarding the injury, will be paid by the patient, and a receipt will be issued to enable you to claim this back in full from WorkCover.

• Newborn babies awaiting Medicare Card to also pay the Medicare rebate fee, which can be claimed back/rebated, when the Medicare card arrives.

• Appointment fee for patients without a Medicare Card is $95.00 (Standard consultation up to 15 minutes) or $150.00 (Long consultation over 20 minutes).

Have you ever wondered why the practice charges a gap fee for some consultations?

As you may know, General Practices are small, privately-run entities that receive no Government funding to operate (unlike public hospitals). Unfortunately, following years of Medicare rebate freezes and low rebate indexation (around 1.6% per annum) since the early 2000s, a patient's Medicare rebate alone, as it stands, is no longer able to sustain keeping a General Practice open.

To explain this further, for each bulk-billed consultation, a portion is distributed to the doctor, and a smaller portion goes to the practice.

The doctor (who is not an employee, but an independent associate sole trader) will use their after-tax portion to pay their own annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, superannuation, medical indemnity, registration, CPD/study leave etc.

To give an example, when you are bulk-billed for a standard consultation (Item 23, up to 20 mins), your doctor will only receive approximately $13 for this consultation after paying their own annual/sick/parental leave, insurances, registration etc.

The smaller portion of your consultation fee for the practice covers a multitude of practice running costs such as:

• Staff wages, staff training

• Commercial rent, strata and outgoings

• Medical equipment purchases, servicing, compliance and calibration

• Dressings, surgical equipment, medical instruments, resuscitation equipment & servicing

• Medical software, record keeping software and cyber/data security

• Personal protective equipment (all funded by the practice)

• IT, web appointment systems and patient recall system licenses

• Office running costs (printers, computers, telecommunications & phone systems)

• Practice accreditation, insurances, audits and clinical governance, medical industry compliance regulations

• Cloud-based off-site medical records storage and security

• Utilities, rates and building maintenance and repairs

• Sanitation and infection control (daily cleaning, sterilisation, hazardous waste removal)

We hope that this provides some clarity on why you may have a gap fee, if we wish to provide excellence in GP care, and keep the doors of Dural Family Medical Practice open.

Please note that bulk-billing is still available by some doctors for all:

• Children under 16 years of age

• Pension and Concession Card Holders

• DVA Card Holders

• Patients experiencing homelessness

Outside of our normal opening hours, for all non-urgent medical issues, please contact the National Home Doctor Service on 137 425.

For all medical emergencies, please dial 000 or present to your nearest Emergency Department.

Specialist Referral requests can only be given via an appointment with your GP – whether it be a face-to-face standard appointment, or phone or video consultation.

Reception will not be able to take requests for referrals over the phone.

Confidentiality of patient information is a fundamental component of the health care system. It is necessary for the practice to collect personal information from patients to attend to their healthcare needs and for associated administrative purposes. Care will be taken that all information held by the practice is secure and accurate. Unless we have your expressed written consent, or your life is at imminent risk of harm, and in line with Privacy Legislation, medical information cannot be disclosed to any family, friends or other members of the public. We will only disclose relevant information to healthcare workers involved in your treatment if necessary.

Our practice is committed to providing quality care and service. As part of this,we have a Policy to protect your privacy that complies with Privacy Legislation.

Our Privacy Policy advised you:

• That we need your consent to collect any information about you.

• That you can request access to the information we hold about you.

• That you may discuss any concerns that you have about how we handle your information with your doctor or Practice Staff.

• How information will be used by us and whom we need to disclose it to.

We ask that you assist us in providing the best possible health care to you by making sure the information we have is accurate and up to date.

Ask your doctor or see our reception staff if you would like more information about our Practice Policy or the National Privacy Principle and Health Records and Information Privacy Act, 2002.

Practice Management