Obtaining a referral is generally the subject of a consultation and your GP may recommend several choices. When making review appointments with specialists, please ensure that the appointment will be appropriately covered by an in-date referral. Generally speaking, referrals are valid for 12 months from the date of initial consultation with the respective specialist. We are unable to issue referrals retrospectively as the Medicare Benefits Schedule Manual specifically prohibits this.

The doctors usually allow enough repeats on your prescriptions to last until your next visit. In the interest of good medicine and privacy, doctors do need to see you for repeat scripts. Under exceptional circumstances your doctor may agree to write a repeat prescription without seeing you (attracting a fee).

Your medical record is a confidential agreement. It is the policy of this practice to maintain strict security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to our doctors and authorised staff members who are bound by confidentiality agreements. Under exceptional circumstances such as suspected child abuse or pursuant to a subpoena, we are legally obliged to disclose personal health information. All practice patients are asked to sign a general consent form in accordance with privacy Act 1988, privacy amendment Act 2012 and relevant state privacy legislation.

This practice regards the follow up of test results as your responsibility and asks for your co-operation in making a follow up appointment to discuss results of blood tests, pap smears, radiologic investigations etc. Please note receptionists are not trained to discuss/interpret test results.

We provide an after-hours service for regular patients of this practice. If you consider that a matter is sufficiently urgent as to require out of hours attention by your doctor, please telephone the office number in order to obtain the on-call doctor’s telephone number. If it is a more urgent matter which requires hospital attention such as a bone fracture, hospitals in the area are:

Public Hospital:br>
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital, Palmerston Rd, Hornsby, Phone: 94777077

Private Hospital:
Sydney Adventist Hospital, 185 Fox Valley Rd, Wahroonga, Phone: 94879000

For Serious Emergencies;
Such as chest pains or loss of consciousness or severe breathing difficulties, immediately contact 000 and ask for an ambulance.

We value patients’ views on how this practice is run and how it could be improved. Please contact us for providing your valuable feedback. From time to time, surveys are conducted in order to seek opinions as to how our services might be improved.

We are always striving to improve the standards of our professional services. If you are unhappy with any aspect of the care you receive from this practice, we are keen to know about it. Please feel free to speak or write to us about your concerns. However, if you do feel there is a problem you wish to take up outside, the relevant authority for handling complaints is :
Health Care Complaints Commission, Locked Bag 18, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012, Tel: 92197444

Usually a 30 minute appointment is booked for skin cancer checkups. This includes some time for us to discuss your medical and sun exposure history and advise you about best sun protection measures.

Skin cancer doctors use a dermatoscope to take a close up look at any concerning spots. Using a dermatoscope is painless and greatly assists us in deciding if a skin lesion is of concern or not. Sometimes we take dermoscopic photographs of a spot or mole, so it can be monitored over time for any changes.

To test a suspicious spot or mole, we take a biopsy under local anaesthetic. The sample is sent to a pathology laboratory for testing. Receiving the test result usually takes a few days.

In most cases, when found early, skin cancers can be easily and successfully treated with surgery or non-surgical methods such as creams or cryotherapy. Most appropriate treatment option will depend on the type of skin cancer found and your other medical conditions.

We are fully equipped and have the skills to do most surgical treatments onsite. However you’ll be referred on if more advanced facilities and skills are required to treat your condition.