Frequently Asked Questions

Each doctor has a preferred way of following up results with their patients. At the time of ordering the tests, please check this with your doctor before you leave your consultation.

Please check your My Health Record to see if your results are back. Our team will direct all callers asking if results are back to My Health Record.

Recalls for an appointment to follow up clinically significant results are sent through Hot Docs. You will be advised to make a non-urgent appointment. If your doctor actions an urgent appointment is needed, one of our nursing team will ring you.

We recommend follow up appointments should be with the doctor who has ordered the tests, as this doctor knows what happened at the consultation when these tests were ordered and what they were wanting to test.

You may book a Telehealth or face-to-face appointment for results. Many doctors have short 5-minute Telehealth appointments to discuss straightforward results.

Your doctor is aware of the cost of healthcare and as such, many doctors have special arrangements for follow up of results that require discussion but do not require any further significant action. Any follow up appointments that require a standard consultation, further tests or referrals or where other issues are raised, standard fees will usually apply.

The costs of healthcare are not reflected in patient Medicare rebates (the amount the government pays to subsidise GP consultations).

Practice costs are rising but the Medicare rebate has not kept pace.  Between 2010 and 2020, Medicare rebates increased by an average of just over 1% each year. Rebates were completely frozen (i.e. did not receive an annual indexation increase from the government) between 2014 and 2018. Practice costs over the same period rose around 3% per year and significantly more in the past few years. The average out of pocket cost for patients is now higher than the Medicare rebate for a standard GP consultation. Please consider writing to your local member of parliament.

Because the government gives GP urgent care clinics extra money to cover costs, so they can bulk bill.

Because our doctors are independent practitioners, they each set their own fees.

If your GP has a special arrangement with you regarding your fees, this only applies when you see your regular GP. If you see another practitioner, regular practice fees will apply.

Your Medicare rebate from the government does not cover the current cost of your healthcare. Unfortunately, your doctor and clinic can no longer cover this gap. Please continue raising this with your local member of parliament.

The cost of running a practice continues to rise but the government has not increased any payments to assist with this. That is one of the reasons many GP surgeries are closing or transitioning to universal private billing.

Medicare does not provide any rebate to you for the cost of equipment and supplies used to carry out procedures such as dressings, IV cannulas, loading devices and so on. The practice covers the cost of some of these items such as dressings but is unable to cover the cost of more expensive consumable items.

If you have a chronic health condition, you are likely to be eligible for a chronic condition management appointment every 3 months. All our GPs currently bulk bill these. Check eligibility with your GP and remember these appointments are only for the review and management planning around your chronic health condition/s.

Team care appts: At times, your doctor may direct you to a team care appointment which is a short appointment with reduced out-of-pocket fees for some eligible conditions.

We have short telehealth appointments with a reduced out-of-pocket fee for repeat of most scripts, repeat referrals and requests for pathology referrals for upcoming appointments.

Consider a free home medication review if you are taking 5 or more medications or have had recent changes to your medications. All our practitioners also currently bulk bill these appts.

You are eligible for a comprehensive annual health assessment which all our practitioners currently bulk bill.

Online requests are available with some of our practitioners, for some repeat prescriptions and repeat referrals. These can be accessed through our online booking platform Automed. A reduced fee applies.

This is because your regular GP is familiar with your health condition/s and the specialist/s involved in your care.

Our GPs are independent practitioners, and only some are comfortable to offer this service.

Most of our GPs offer short telehealth appointments with a reduced out of pocket charge for repeat referrals and repeat scripts for regular medications to manage chronic health conditions. Feel free to book one of these appointments with your regular treating GP.

As some of our practitioners are part time, we advise that it may take up to 7 days for your request to be reviewed.

Once reviewed, your GP may decide that it is more appropriate to have a face-to-face appointment to action your request. This may be for an examination, to review risks and side effects, to arrange recommended screening tests and so on. Your GP is responsible to follow best practice guidelines to ensure you are receiving the best possible health care.

Requests are made through our booking platform Automed. They are responsible to take payment and send through the request. If the request is declined, the payment will be refunded.

• Referral is for a specialist who is already providing care to you on an ongoing basis
• You have seen this specialist in the past 2 years
• The referral is for routine ongoing monitoring
• There are no new or significant changes to your health conditions since your last review with the specialist

• The script is for an ongoing medical issue/condition
• The script is not for pain medications or drugs of dependency
• The script is not for managing an acute problem e.g. antibiotics
• Your recommended surveillance blood tests and examinations are up to date in accordance with best practice guidelines

People living with advanced chronic health conditions often face challenges managing their symptoms and accessing support in a timely manner, which increases the risk of needing to go to hospital.

Supportive care is being offered at QMSC for high priority patients. This aims to:

• Offer you more regular, planned appointments with your practice nurse and GP
• Telehealth support if you are unable to attend your appointment in person
• Support access to appointments in between your regular planned appointments, when your symptoms are more problematic than usual
• Offer support with your health care including providing resources, appropriate referrals and assistance with decision making and advance care planning.
• Offer your carer/family resources to help them feel supported in their role as carer.

People that have been identified by our health care team as having complex chronic health conditions, may be flagged as being eligible for priority care.

If you require an urgent appointment and there are no appointments available, as a priority care patient, you will be transferred to our clinical nursing team for further assessment.

• The nurse will then speak with your regular treating doctor or another doctor if your regular doctor is not in the clinic.
• Where possible, we will seek to fit in an urgent appointment with your regular doctor or another available doctor.
• Unfortunately, if our doctors have no further capability to fit another urgent appointment in, you may be directed to a GP Urgent Care Clinic or the Emergency Department.

Only your doctor can request this. It is based on the complexity of your chronic health conditions.

If your doctor requests, a ‘priority care’ icon will be uploaded to the demographic section of your patient file. This means when you call to make an appointment, our reception team can see that you are a priority care patient.

No. Priority Care is only available by calling and speaking with our reception team in the first instance, followed by a member of our nursing team.

General Practitioners in Australia are in short supply and our appointment schedules are fully booked days or weeks in advance. We set aside ‘on the day appointments’ and also fit extra urgent care patients into the daily appointment schedule, with our GPs often working through lunch or beyond their regular hours. Unfortunately, there is a limit to what we can manage and at times we may need to direct you elsewhere. We thank you for your understanding.

We recommend always having an up-to-date patient health summary with you. Your regular GP can print you a copy. A Shared Patient Health Record can also be uploaded to your ‘My Health Record’. Ask you GP to do this.

At present, our GPs continue to accept your Medicare rebate as payment (with no out-of-pocket costs) for 3 monthly reviews under the Chronic Conditions Management Plan system (also known as Care Plans).

Outside of the 3 monthly reviews, regular fees will apply. Your GP’s fee schedule is available on our website.