Practice Policies

Appointments

When you book an appointment at Brookwater Medical Centre, we’ll always provide you with the first available appointment with the doctor of your choice. We do accept walk-in appointments if an appointment is available. If you have an emergency one of our nurses will triage your symptoms. We prefer that patients book an appointment for doctor’s time management.

Your appointment confirmations and reminders will be sent via our online service provider – HOTDOC. You will receive a confirmation SMS after booking your appointment. A reminder and appointment confirmation will be sent as an SMS 24 hours before your appointment.

Every effort will be made to accommodate your preferred time and doctor. However, delays sometimes occur because we give priority to emergencies and ask for your understanding should this occur.

We apologise for any unavoidable delays you might experience, and to minimise these, we recommend that you ask for a longer appointment if you have complicated or multiple problems.

New patients are required to book an in-person appointment

Existing patient standard appointments are 10 minutes.

Telehealth appointments are only available to existing patients who have attended the practice in the last 12 months as per Medicare Guidelines

We encourage all staff to pre-fill the Better Consult form to assist the Doctor with your consultation (see or insert Better Consults info).

We welcome new patients at Brookwater Medical Centre and ask you to book a 20-minute appointment for your first booking. New patient forms can be completed online or when you attend your appointment (please arrive 5 minutes earlier to allow time to fill out the form).

A no-show fee of $30 will be charged to patients if they do not attend 2 consecutive appointments without prior notice.  All staff have the right to deny appointments if a patient does not pay their no-show/ cancellation fee.

An appointment with a Doctor is necessary for any Scripts, referrals, and Medical Certificates. Please remember to ask for these during your appointment. Due to the timely nature of the doctor’s work, we cannot guarantee you will receive these if not requested during the appointment. Admin staff may have to rebook you in the next available time slot.

Disrespectful or Aggressive behaviour will NOT be tolerated under any circumstance. If any staff member is made to feel unsafe or uncomfortable. The police will be called immediately. Staff retain the right to decline service delivery.

After Hours Service

If you or a loved one needs urgent medical care on weeknights or weekends, but your GP is closed, call 13SICK (that’s 13 7425) and request a bulk billed*, after-hours doctor home visit. The doctors are on the road from 5 pm weeknights, all day Saturday & Sunday and on public holidays. More GPs trust 13SICK to care for their patients in the after-hours.

* If eligible for Medicare rebates.

Alternatively, if you phone the centre after hours, your call will be automatically redirected to this service. If you need emergency medical attention, please call 000.

Medical services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including public holidays. For further information on this service, please ask the receptionist. The Practice has brochures and posters in the waiting room for patient information.

Emergencies

In the case of an emergency Please call 000 or present to your nearest Emergency Department Immediately.

Prescriptions

For prescriptions, we require patients to make an appointment. A Telehealth appointment can be made for existing patients (seen within the last 12 months). If you are isolating at home, we can post your script to your preferred pharmacy.

Scripts can be collected at the reception desk, or we can fax or email to a surrounding pharmacy.

New patients will be required to make an appointment for scripts.

We do not prescribe S8 medications due to the addictive nature of them – if we suspect that patients are drug seeking, they will be restricted from making future appointments as agreed upon by all BMC staff. 

Specialist Referral

We can only refer you to a specialist if you first make an appointment with one of our doctors so that we can assess you. Referrals are legal documents, so we must be sure you require additional intervention before making one, and they cannot be backdated.

The Health Department expects us to assess your problem and refer you on to the appropriate specialist to minimise time delays in diagnosis and treatment. The specialist, meanwhile, expects us to provide them with a summary of your past health and to have done all appropriate tests before seeing them. A referral is, therefore, an important document.

The Doctors can send your referral via a secure messaging system, and we can email referrals directly to the Specialist if you are isolating.

Certificates

Medical certificates also require an appointment with your doctor. We are legally bound to have assessed you at the time of illness before providing such a certificate.

For Telehealth consultations, we can email you the Medical Certificate as per your consent.

Result

If you are phoning the practice for results, your call is directed to one of our nurses. The nurse will inform you if you need to see your doctor or advise you on treatment as per your GP.

For “non-urgent” results you will receive an SMS through our online provider team “HOT DOC”. You may book the non-urgent recall appointment via the HOT DOC app or call our reception team.

For urgent results, one of our nurses will call you, or your doctor may choose to call you directly.

Recall and Reminder System

We offer a recall system to our patients for cervical screening, immunisations, health assessments, etc. If you would like your name added to our recall list, please speak to your doctor or the registered nurse. The Practice uses ‘HOT DOC’ to send SMS recalls and reminders. HOT DOC will also send SMS or email appointment reminders. Recall appointments cannot be cancelled or re-scheduled online. If a change to the appointment is needed, please call the reception staff.

An urgent recall appointment will be made with your doctor at your earliest convenience.

Communication Policy

Each doctor’s policy on receiving and returning phone calls and electronic communication may vary. All urgent phone and electronic communication are given to the RN on duty to triage and is followed up with the doctor concerned.

All communication is triaged to ensure the information is given to the appropriate staff member or GP in a timely matter.

Doctors prefer you to book a Telehealth appointment or a face-to-face appointment for all communication (including requests for scripts and referrals).

SNP pathology requests can now be sent to you via SMS. Please request this from your doctor at the time of the consultation if you are isolating or for Telehealth appointments.

Privacy Policy

The policy explains how we manage your personal information and your records in our practice. We also have a written privacy policy describing how we manage personal information.

In your personal information, we collect name, date of birth, address/s, contact details, Medicare number, healthcare identifiers and health fund details. Medical information may include medical history and any care you may need. GPs require your past and present health information to provide you with high-quality care.

The Practice complies with the 13 Australian Privacy Principles. Australian Privacy law has strict rules about how a health service prover can collect, use, and disclose your health information.

For more information, please visit the Australian Privacy Principal Website. A copy of our Privacy Policy is located at the BMC front reception desk.

Complaints

We want to hear from you if you have a complaint. Please speak to your GP in the privacy of their room, or alternatively please fill in a form at reception or email the practice manager at pm@brookwatermedicalcentre.com.au

Ph: 13 36 46

Website: www.oho.qld.gov.au