Consultations
Our standard consultation is 10-15 minutes for simple or routine matters. Please advise our reception staff if the reason for your visit is complex and you require a longer consultation. This is important so that we can provide thorough and comprehensive care and lessens the chance of us running late for our next patient.
Prescriptions
It is important to us to prescribe medications safely and appropriately. It is our policy to provide scripts only after reviewing you in a consultation. If you are on long term medication we endeavour to provide enough medication for you until it is appropriate for you to be reviewed. It is important to be reviewed regularly whilst on medication to monitor your condition, how well the medication is working for you, any side effects and review interactions with other medications you may be taking. Medications prescribed outside of a consult, where the person is unable to be reviewed, may be provided at the discretion of the individual doctor and may incur a small fee as Medicare does not pay for this service.
Phone Calls
If your call is of an urgent nature, we are happy to interrupt consultation time to speak with you. Otherwise our Receptionist will take your name and telephone number and we will endeavour to return your call at the end of the session time, or the end of the day. It is important that you adequately indicate the degree of urgency when phoning so that our Receptionist can deal with your call appropriately. We prefer not to communicate via e-mail for privacy and urgency reasons.
Results
Your Pathology and Radiology results are checked by our doctors. You are welcome to call and check your results however it is important to know that the details of your results are not available to our Receptionists. They may have information on the Doctors advice on what follow up is required and may contact you to schedule an appointment with your doctor to discuss the results. They may only print your results for you after checking with a Doctor first. This is to ensure you are appropriately informed of you results and to maintain confidentiality. Often the doctor will leave a message to discuss the results at the next routine review, however if you would like to discuss them sooner please free to make an appointment with your doctor. Please make sure your details are up to date should we need to contact you for an urgent review.
Home Visits
We are happy to provide Home visits to patients who are:
– registered with our practice
– unable to come to the practice for medical reasons
– live within a 10-minute radius of the practice
If situation is acute, please phone an ambulance. Out of pocket cost may apply.
Parking
Parking is usually available on the streets near the practice. We also have a few parking spots at the rear of the practice which can be accessed via Bugden Lane. There is a dedicated disabled park available at the rear of the practice. Click on the link to get directions to our practice.
New Patients
We are very happy to see new patients at Alstonville Medical Centre and we can always find a doctor for you. It is very helpful if you can bring in a health summary or a list of medications with you. With your consent we can request your old notes from your previous doctors which helps to provide ongoing comprehensive care for you. Please see the attached form for requesting your records from another practice.
After Hours
One of our doctors is on call for after-hours medical advice, Monday to Sunday, by phoning our usual number (02) 6628 3101. In an emergency dial 000 or go directly to either Ballina Hospital or Lismore Base Hospital.
Our Surgery is open on Saturday morning between 9am and 11am for urgent medical care and consults are booked on the day only. Please phone Reception for an appointment (weekend rates apply).
Privacy/Patient Consent
The Alstonville Medical Centre collects information from you for the primary purpose of providing quality health care. We require you to provide us with your personal details and a full medical history so that we may properly assess diagnose and treat illnesses and medical conditions, ensuring we are proactive in your health care. To enable ongoing care, and in keeping with the Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles, we wish to provide you with sufficient information on how your personal information may be used or disclosed and record your consent or restrictions to this consent.
Your personal information will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected or as otherwise permitted by Law, and we respect your right to determine how your information is used or disclosed. The information we collect may be collected by a number of different methods and examples may include: medical test results, notes from consultations, Medicare details, data collected from observations and conversations with you and details obtained from other health care providers (e.g. specialist correspondence). By signing our Patient Consent Form you (as a patient/parent/guardian) are consenting to the collection of your personal information, and that it may be used or disclosed by the Practice for the following purposes:
- Administrative purposes in the operation of our general practice.
- Billing purposes, including compliance with Medicare requirements.
- Follow-up reminder/recall notices for treatment and preventative healthcare
- Disclosure to other involved in your health care, including treating doctors and specialists outside this medical practice. This may occur through referral to other doctors, or for medical tests and in the reports or results returned to us following the referrals.
- Accreditation and quality assurance activities to improve individual and community health care and practice management.
- For legal related disclosure as required by a Court of Law.
- For the purposes of research only where de-identified information is used.
- To allow medical students and staff to participate in medical training/teaching using only de-identified information.
- To comply with any legislative or regulatory requirements, e.g. notifiable diseases.
- For use when seeking treatment by other doctors in this Practice.
At all times we are required to ensure your details are treated with the utmost confidentiality. Your records are very important and we will take all steps necessary to ensure they remain confidential. We ask you to complete our Patient Information Form if you understand and agree to the following statements in relation to our use, collection, privacy and disclosure of your patient information.
“I have read the information above and understand the reasons why my information must be collected, and the purposes for which my information may be used or disclosed. I understand that if my information is to be used for any purpose other than that set out above, my further consent will be obtained. By signing the Patient Information Form I give permission for my personal information to be collected, used and disclosed as described above, including contact via SMS to my mobile phone number. I understand only my relevant personal information will be provided to allow for above actions to be undertaken and I am free to withdraw, alter or restrict my consent at any time by notifying this Practice in writing.”
Zero Tolerance Policy
At Alstonville Medical Centre we believe in creating a safe workplace for all. We have a zero tolerance policy for threatening, aggressive or violent behaviour towards staff or patients. Any patient who disregards this policy will no longer be welcome at Alstonville Medical Centre. Your medical record can be sent to a new Medical Practice if required.
