Clinic hours
Our clinic offers appointments from Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm.
Contact details
Phone: (02) 6676 1744
Fax: (02) 6676 1945
Email: reception@totalhealthpottsville.com.au
NB. Our email account is monitored by our reception staff. It is not monitored 24 hours a day, and may not be checked daily as our receptionists focus on patients in the clinic and attending to phone calls. Under no circumstances should this email address be used for medical queries or requests for appointments. This email address should be used for enquiries of a general nature only if answers are unable to found on our website. We remind patients that emailed information is not encrypted nor secure, and delivery of personal and sensitive health details via this method has the potential to be intercepted.
Fees – Effective from 1st January 2024
Patients 80 years plus, Primary School children and younger, DVA Gold Card, DVA White card (when visit relates to DVA condition) will continue to be bulk billed.
Non-concession card holders will incur a $45 out-of-pocket fee for standard consultation, with other fees payable dependent upon services provided on the day. Standard consultation fee – $86.40. Long consultation fee – $125.10
Pension Card Holders, HealthCare Card holders and Commonwealth Seniors Card will incur a $25 out-of-pocket for standard consultation, with other fees payable dependent upon services provided on the day. Standard consultation fee – $66.40. Long consultation fee – $105.10
Telehealth Consultations will incur a $45 out-of-pocket – Standard telephone consultation – $86.40
All patients will be charged a $20 DNA fee, per consultation, if appointments are missed.
Forms
For new patients to our practice, the following information forms will need to be completed before your first appointment. You may download and complete these to bring with you, or we will provide these to you when you arrive in the clinic.
• New patient form – child
THP Child New Patient information form up to date 26022024
• New patient form – adult
THP Adult New Patient information form up to date 26022024
• Privacy Policy
Communicating by electronic means
• Practice information sheet
Practice information sheet for Webpage effective from April 2024
Should you wish for us to arrange for your medical records to be sent to us from your previous medical centre, please complete the appropriate form below, a copy of which we may also provide to you in the clinic. Please note, your previous clinic may ask that you pay a fee for the preparation and transfer of our records.
• Transfer of medical records request form
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How long is a standard appointment?
A. We allow up to 15 minutes for a standard appointment. During this period of time you and your doctor can adequately address 2 or 3 relatively simple issues, concerns, problems or requests. If you have a complex problem, or a larger number of issues that you wish to discuss, please book a long appointment for which 30 minutes will be allocated. We know that most patients greatest frustration when attending their GP is having to wait long past their allocated appointment time before they are seen, and this can be largely avoided by planning ahead and booking adequate time with your doctor.
Q. Do I need an appointment ‘just for scripts’?
A. Absolutely. It may appear that your doctor re-issuing your prescriptions is a simple task requiring only the pressing of the ‘print’ button. In fact, each time a prescription expires your doctor must consider if this is still the right medication for you at the right dose, check for effectiveness and side effects, check if blood tests are up to date that might need to be monitored for specific medications.
Q. How can I get the results of my recent blood test/s or Xray?CT/ultrasound/MRI investigation?
A. If your test results are abnormal, your doctor will arrange for our receptionists to make an appointment to discuss them with you as soon as both patient and doctor are available, usually within 3 weeks. If the results need to be discussed urgently, you will be contacted as soon as possible. Under no circumstances will our receptionists discuss results with patients over the phone. They do not have access to this information and are not medically trained. If your results have been received and marked as normal by your doctor, you are welcome to have copies of these. A fee will apply for results printed for patients. We will not email results to patients as this form of communication is not encrypted nor secure.
Q. Can I make an appointment to discuss my concerns about my husband/wife/father/mother/child/etc?
A. Yes, but this appointment will not be covered by Medicare (a private non-rebatable fee will be applied), and privacy legislation prevents us from discussing any details about your loved one. We understand that you might have concerns, and we can listen to these, but will not under any circumstances share any information about your relative. This policy of patient privacy extends to a husband or wife attending an appointment for themselves and asking if their partner’s recent tests were normal, or if we can print a prescription for their spouse who is not present. For more information about patient privacy principles, please go here: https://www.oaic.gov.au/ or https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies/manuals/Pages/privacy-manual-for-health-information.aspx
Q. I need my doctor to complete paperwork for my gym/health insurance/travel insurance/employer, etc. This will be covered by Medicare, won’t it?
A. No. Medicare will not pay any money towards a consultation that is not relating to an acute or chronic medical or psychological conditions. Your doctor will be happy to undertake these consultations, but a full private fee will be applied. Specifically, Medicare does not cover the following types of consultations:
- SCUBA Diving medical examinations
- Aviation medical examinations
- Commercial driving medical examinations
- Examination for the purpose of legal proceedings
- Employment medical examinations
- Certificates for fitness to undergo gym training or fitness programs
- Cosmetic procedures or surgery
- Travel insurance claim
- Private health insurance claim
An injury sustained at work if the employer’s insurer has accepted responsibility
Q. I’d like to have a referral to see the podiatrist/physiotherapist/psychologist etc under Medicare. Everyone is eligible for this, aren’t they?
A. Unfortunately not. Medicare has very specific criteria that must be adhered to in order to refer you for subsidised (not free) sessions to an allied health practitioner or psychologist.
A GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement document may be done by your doctor allowing access to subsidised (not free) sessions with an allied health practitioner if you meet the following criteria:
- You have a chronic or terminal medical condition i.e. it has been, or is likely to be, present for 6 months or more. Examples include asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease, osteoporosis. Acute medical conditions, specifically acute muscle or joint problems do not fulfil this requirement, e.g. an injury to a knee playing touch football or following a fall.
- Your medical condition/s requires the input of another 2 health care providers in addition to your GP, each of whom will provide a different service to the patient e.g. a specialist Endocrinologist and Podiatrist for foot care in diabetes, or a Cardiologist and Exercise Physiologist for guided exercise programs for cardiovascular disease.
Further information about GP Management Plans and Team Care arrangements can be found here: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/F17F6787B14E6CF1CA257BF0001B0AEC/$File/Fact%20Sheet%20-%20CDM%20-%20Patient%20Info%20-%20Feb%202014.pdf
A GP Mental Health Care Plan document may be done by your doctor if you have a diagnosable mental health disorder according to specific criteria in the ICD-10 or DSM-V (textbooks that describe the features that are present in various mental health conditions). For example, Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, etc. If a patent meets the criteria for these conditions, a referral may be done for subsidised (not free) sessions with a Psychologist or other recognised/registered mental health worker. Unfortunately, Medicare will not pay for counselling sessions for patients with mental health concerns that are not severe enough to meet the criteria for a mental health disorder, e.g. relationship counselling, grief counselling, etc.
Further information about the requirements for GP Mental Health Care Plans can be found here: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/5DB6692978BC3395CA257BF0001C10D7/$File/factsheetforpatients.pdf