Contact with Doctors

Clinical telephone calls will be triaged by the nursing staff, where necessary calls will be referred to the Doctor. To minimise interruptions to consultations, you may be required to leave your contact numbers and a message, your doctor will return your call at their earliest convenience. In some instances a consultation with the doctor may still be necessary.

If you are experiencing chest pain, difficulty breathing, bleeding, convulsions or vomiting please inform our staff immediately.

Emailing the Clinic

You may email the clinic for general enquiries. Our emails are dealt with in a 24 hour time period during surgery hours as the email address is only monitored once a day. Information/health advice will not be provided over emails. You will be asked to book an appointment with your doctor.

Appointments are best booked by phoning the clinic on (02) 6651-6868 or alternatively using our online booking system. For all urgent matters you will need to call the clinic.

In certain circumstances we may communicate via email with you. In exchanging your information you acknowledge that email is not recognised as a secure method of communication and we cannot guarantee the confidentiality of your information. We will always ask you to send us an email first in which we will reply with your information attached.

Recall & Reminder Systems

Plaza Medical Centre adopts a pro-active, preventative approach to the maintenance of every patient’s health and well being. Under the State & National Patient Reminder System, patient reminders & recalls for pap smears, immunisations, cervical and bowel cancer screenings, health assessments and other services are carried out on a regular basis.

You may be contacted by us via phone, text message or mail as part of our ongoing preventative health recall and reminder system. If you do not wish to be part of our clinics or the state or national reminder systems please advise our reception staff.

Medical Certificates, Results, Referrals & Prescriptions:

It is the policy of our practice that all results, repeat prescriptions medical certificates and referrals require an appointment. In some cases results may be given to you over the phone by our Practice Nurse at the discretion of your Doctor. If you are unable to come to the clinic for an appointment our Doctors may charge a small fee for any prescription or referral that needs to be written.

Interpreter & Translating Services

If you require an interpreter for another language other than English we can arrange this for you through telephone or on site interpretation with the Translating Interpreter Service – 131 450

If you are hearing impaired and require an interpreter we can arrange this through telephone or on site interpretation with the National Auslan Interpreter Booking Service -1800 246 945

Transferring Medical Records

To ensure we can provide you with comprehensive health care we advise patients to provide their previous medical records where possible. If you would like us to arrange to have your medical records transferred to the clinic simply advise our reception staff or complete our online Request for Medical Records Form. All patients over 16 years of age will need to sign a consent form, parents or guardians can sign on behalf of patients under 16 years.

Please be aware that some clinics may charge a fee to have your records transferred, if you receive an invoice in relation to this you will need to contact the corresponding clinic.

We do not charge a fee to send medical records to other health professionals. A fee may be incurred if medical records are requested by insurance or work cover companies or if a patient requests copies of their records.

If you would like to request a copy of your medical records please do so in writing with your full name, date of birth, signature and contact details. A medical practitioner, solicitor or insurer may request records on your behalf but we will only accept written requests that include your written consent.

Privacy

Our clinic complies with the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2012 and the Australian Privacy Principles. All information collected is treated as “sensitive information”. All patients’ health records and information are handled and stored to protect the privacy of the patient.

Our New Patient Information Form requests patients to sign an agreement for our doctors to discuss a patient’s health care/treatment with other relevant health professionals. Patients always have the right to decline this agreement.

Registrars

We believe we have a responsibility to participate in the education of the next generation of Doctors. From time to time throughout the year there may be a registrar on rotation with us from GP Synergy.

Disclaimer of Non-endorsement:

In reference to any specific commercial products or services by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favouring by Plaza Medical Centre.