WODONGA
WEST MEDICAL
CLINIC
PRACTICE INFORMATION
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WODONGA
WEST MEDICAL
CLINIC
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PRACTICE INFORMATION
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On this page you will find information on: Office Hours; Appointments; Cancellations; After Hours Services; Immunisations; Medical Examinations; Billing Information; Further Costs; Test Results; Repeat Prescriptions The practice was initially set up as a solo GP Practice by Dr. Sartori in 1979. It moved to its present location in 1995. It is now a fully accredited practice with four full time General Practitioners. The principals of the practice are Dr. Peter Sartori and Dr. Bill Walton. Both are Fellows of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Wodonga West Medical Clinic is situated in a pleasant modern air conditioned building on a main thoroughfare with good patient access and provision for the disabled. It boasts a large well lit waiting area and modern reception. Parking is available on the service road outside the clinic, and some spaces are available including disabled parking, directly in front of the building. The doctors in this practice take a special interest in health across all ages. Individual doctors have particular interests in hypnotherapy, counseling, obstetrics care, travel medicine, family planning, management of menopause, and perform minor surgery. The practice is involved in Undergraduate education The office is open from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday. We have a modern telephone system which will automatically answer your call if the staff are busy. Please be patient if you are calling at a peak time. Please telephone the surgery as early as possible to make appointments. On occasions, there may not be an appointment available on the day you are requesting. You will be offered the next available appointment day/time. However should you be experiencing a genuine emergency then we will attempt to provide you with an appointment. Patients with long appointments are asked to ring and confirm the appointment 24 hours prior, or their appointment may be rebooked. We try to keep waiting times to a minimum, however some consultations can take longer than expected. The reception staff are happy to inform you of the expected waiting time, and you are more than welcome to ring before attending. It is essential that you notify us a minimum 24 hours in advance to cancel a 30 minute appointment and 48 hours prior to an hour appointment. An early cancellation allows us to reschedule valuable consulting time. Patients who book and then fail to attend will be charged a non-attendance fee. This fee is not claimable from Medicare. New patients who fail to attend without notification will not be accepted for further consultations. Patients who fail to attend without notification three times may be refused further service.
There is always a doctor available for urgent medical problems. We have a roster system with a number of other local clinics. You can access after hours care by ringing our usual phone numbers at all times. Your call will either be answered by a receptionist or be diverted to an answer machine which will give you further details on the doctor who is available.. Your child and you can be fully immunised at our clinic. For immunisation the amount charged is fully reimbursed by your Medicare rebate, with no out of pocket expense to yourself, unless there is a cost for vaccine e.g. Hepatitis B. All childhood immunisations are recorded with the Immunisation Register. Immunisations can also be booked with our nurse. Medical examinations for insurance policies, pre-employment, sporting activities, Vic Roads etc. involve additional paperwork. It is essential that you inform the reception staff that you require a medical as extra time MUST be allocated for the doctor to attend paperwork. Should you not inform the reception staff it may be necessary to reschedule your appointment for another day/time. Medical examinations are generally not covered by Medicare and the full account will be your responsibility. Many also incur GST. Fees can be obtained from the reception staff. The clinic has an audiometer and a spirometer if these are required for the medical.
Our terms are strictly payment at the time of consultation. Health Care Card holders and pensioners are billed at a reduced rate. Payment of accounts will be on the day and can be made by cash, cheque, or EFTPOS. Workers Compensation accounts will be billed to the employer, however should liability not be accepted for the injury, then the account will be your responsibility. If you are experiencing hardship do not hesitate to speak with the reception staff where alternative methods of payment will be worked out.
Below is a summary of charges for a level B consultation that would normally be of a 5 - 15 minute duration:
Bulk billing is at our discretion, but most times we will bulk bill full time University students, Veteran Affairs patients, children under 16 and Pensioners. Bulk Billing will not occur until after the first consultation. Please be aware that if you are referred on for testing or to a specialist there will most likely be a further cost involved. If you are concerned about this please contact the relevant place for a costing. Although the surgery provides a recall system for certain tests, it is your responsibility to follow-up on any test result. Your doctor should inform you how to obtain your results. This could mean a return visit or a phone call. The doctors have a system in place where they have marked results that reception/nursing staff may give out. Times for calling for test results are 3.00 pm and 4.00 pm weekdays, when you will be put through to one of our nurses. . If the doctor needs to speak to you about the result, a message will be taken for your doctor to call you back. RECALLS On request the Doctors may provide repeat prescriptions, depending on the length of time since you were last seen and the type of medication. More than three medications requested, a period of greather than six months since an appointment, or three requests since the last visit would require an appointment with the doctor. Authority scripts will always require an appointment. We require 24 hours notice for repeat prescriptions and a nominal fee will be charged for each item ordered.. We encourage patients to consider making an appointment in our Quick Fix Clinic.. |
