Practice Information
Welcome, and thank you for choosing The Bowral Doctor for your general practice care.
Please read the information below regarding this practice, so that you better understand what services we offer and how we aim to assist you in maintaining your best health. If you have any questions after reading this information, please speak to our reception staff who will be happy to assist you.
Our goal at The Bowral Doctor is to provide high quality care to our patients and their families, and we appreciate any input you may have in helping meet this goal.
We acknowledge the Gundungarra peoples, the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live and work, and we pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and future.
Practice Hours
Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays: Closed
Please note our office is closed for lunch every weekday from 1–2 pm
Home Visits
Home visits are available for our regular patients whose condition prevents them from attending the practice.
Appointments
Every effort will be made to accommodate your preferred appointment time. Our staff have been trained in triage, and emergencies will always be given priority. Longer consultations are available by request, for complex conditions and when you have multiple issues to be addressed. Please be considerate of the patient following you, if you have multiple issues, booking a long consultation will ensure adequate time can be spent with you and not impact the person after you by delaying their consultation.
After Hours Care Service
For all after hours care please call the Southern Highlands GP After Hours Service on 4861 6433. They operate clinics on Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon at 21 St Jude Street, Bowral 2576.
If you believe your condition is serious or life threatening, please dial 000.
Fees and Billing
The Bowral Doctor is not a bulk billing practice. However, bulk billing is offered to children under 13, DVA patients, pensioners over 80, and unemployed.
Dressing and wound care fees
Any wound dressings provided by The Bowral Doctor will incur a fee in accordance with the cost of the dressings and wound care. Despite community belief, Medicare does not supply dressings to GP clinics, only public hospitals and community nursing services receive funded dressings. To ensure both a viable practice and to allow comprehensive care, The Bowral Doctor will stock many modern dressings to ensure you receive complete care in the one location. In order to do this, we will charge patients individually for any dressings supplied.
Some GP clinics do not charge for dressings, however our experience has shown this is done by inappropriately billing Medicare to make up for the cost of dressings. The Bowral Doctor aims to comply with Medicare legislation 100% of the time, so will not defraud Medicare in order to pay for your dressings.
Management of Personal Health Information
Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain the security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff. We abide by the Australian Privacy Principles. Our privacy policy is available from reception if you have any further questions.
Patients may obtain a copy of their health information from reception upon signing a Request for release of medical records form.
Missed Appointments
As a courtesy to the doctor and other patients, please provide as much notice as possible when you are unable to keep your appointment. Three missed appointments within 12 months will results in closure of your file at The Bowral Doctor.
Your Rights
Every patient attending The Bowral Doctor has certain rights as outlined by the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights. You have the right to receive safe and high quality care, to be respected as an individual, including cultural identification and beliefs, to be involved in decisions regarding your care, to receive information about your health and medical conditions, to privacy of your personal information and to provide feedback about your care.
Here is a copy of your Healthcare Rights.
Your Responsibilities
When receiving care at The Bowral Doctor, you are also obliged to fulfil your responsibilities; to disclose your own medical history including medications taken, to keep appointments, to inform your doctor if you are receiving treatment from another health practitioner, to pay for services and products provided, and to conduct yourself in a manner which does not interfere with or upset the wellbeing of other patients and staff.
Zero tolerance policy
Rudeness, aggression, physical or verbal threats or foul language toward any member of our staff will not be tolerated under any circumstance. This policy is absolute and will be enforced rigidly.
Patient Feedback
We value our patient’s opinions. There is a suggestion box in reception which we encourage our patients to use if they feel we could improve the care or service we provide. If you have a concern about this practice, please tell us. You can do this by speaking directly with Dr Perry or our Practice Manager.
Communication Policy
We aim to answer all phone calls immediately, however at times of high demand, you may be placed on hold until reception staff can attend to you. We do not have an answering service, if you are unable to wait on hold, please hang up and phone back in 5 minutes.
If you have signed the appropriate section on our patient registration/consent form, we may contact you via email or surface mail if we cannot reach you via phone. In the event we need to contact you urgently, The Bowral Doctor staff may contact your listed emergency contact person. As part of our privacy policy, we will not leave phone messages other than to inform you of our attempt to contact you.
Results
Our policy regarding results is that you make an appointment to review these with your doctor. You will be contacted directly by practice staff or Dr Perry regarding any result that requires an urgent appointment. If we cannot contact you and the results are deemed urgent, we will contact your emergency contact. If we cannot contact you after three attempts, we will send you a reminder letter via surface mail.
Telephone access to Doctors during consultations
As part of our attempt to ensure we do not run late with consultation times, we will not interrupt the doctor unless absolutely essential. If you require to speak to Dr Perry, reception staff will record your details including a short summary regarding the reason for the call, which will be passed on to Dr Perry to review during lunch or at the end of the day. In many cases an appointment will be the best way of addressing any questions regarding your care that you may have.
Reminders
The Bowral Doctor recognises the importance of preventative care in keeping you well. We will send out reminders regarding recommended vaccinations, health checks, scheduled blood tests and cancer screening. We will utilise SMS, phone calls and surface mail to remind you of these important health checks.
Information Changes
If any of your personal information changes i.e. home address, email, or phone number, please inform reception to ensure our records are kept up to date.
Interpreter Service
If you or a family member require an interpreter service, please inform reception of this requirement at the time of making your appointment. This will ensure an interpreter is available at the time of your consultation. We utilise the Translating and Interpreting Services (TIS) provided by the Australian Government.
Drug Rep attendance
The Bowral Doctor believes that pharmaceutical promotion should not guide clinical practice. As far as possible we practice medicine based on sound scientific evidence rather than pharmaceutical promotions. We will never have drug reps visit our practice, accept gifts (pens, lunches, travel, accommodation), nor will we attend drug company sponsored dinners (a.k.a. educational evenings). This is part of our commitment to you – we make decisions about your health based on what you need, not influenced by the latest drug rep who visited to provide a ‘free lunch’.
To find out more on this important topic, click here http://www.nofreelunch.org/
Privacy Policies
For an up to date version of our privacy policies please see below.
The Bowral Doctor Privacy Policy [PDF]