Policies
We understand that unplanned events may occur, and you may need to cancel or reschedule your appointment. GP appointments are in high demand, and each appointment represents dedicated clinical time that has been specifically reserved for you. Failure to cancel a booked appointment with sufficient notice means that the appointment time cannot be offered to another patient who may require medical care.
If an appointment is cancelled with less than 3 hours’ notice and we are unable to rebook the reserved appointment time, there may be a fee charged to recover the costs of reserving the appointment. Appointments can be cancelled by replying ‘no’ to your confirmation SMS, through the Hotdoc platform or by phoning the practice.
A cancellation or non-attendance fee may be charged at the doctor’s discretion. Exact fees are outlined in the individual GP billing policies and start at $80.00.
If you feel that you have been incorrectly charged a non-attendance or late-cancellation policy, please contact the practice manager via phone or email (email address can be obtained through the admin team).
It is a policy of some doctors that all New Patients, Telehealth and Telephone appointments require the patient to link a payment method to secure their appointment.
This decision was made due to a high volume of New Patient non-attendance and delays in paying for telehealth appointments.
No payment is taken at time of booking. Your payment method is stored on a secure platform and may be used to pay for your consultation when it is finalised. If you fail to attend this appointment and a non-attendance fee is charged, the payment method may be used to settle the fee that is issued.
We use Hotdoc, our online booking platform, to carry out this service. For more information about Hotdoc and their privacy and security, please visit HotDoc Payments Security – HotDoc Help
All fee-based consultations must be paid for on the day of service. A $20 administration fee will apply to accounts outstanding for 30 days. Failure to pay without a reasonable explanation or an agreed payment plan may result in a review of ongoing care. If you are experiencing financial hardship, please speak with your doctor or reception staff, who can explain your options.
Our recall system follows the RACGP standards. All test results must be discussed with a doctor prior to release. Reception cannot give these results to patients for clinical and privacy reasons. If your doctor feels there is a clinical reason to recall you back to the practice you will be contacted either by telephone, SMS or letter to book an appointment.
We are committed to preventative health and as such you may receive a Clinical Reminder from time to time. These are set by your doctor as reminders for regular health-based tests or assessments such as chronic condition management plans, health assessments, routine pathology tests, cervical screening and routine injections etc. Our practice will contact you by telephone, SMS or letter to advise you that your reminder is due.
As per Medicare legislation, telehealth/telephone appointments will only attract a Medicare rebate or be bulk billed if you have attended our practice for a face-to-face consult within the last 12 months. If you have not attended for a face-to-face consult and request a telehealth appointment you will be charged 100% out of pocket for the consult.
All Telehealth appointments require card details to be stored and linked to the appointment via Hotdoc. This is to ensure efficient processing of payments can occur.
Port GPs cannot view, store or access your card details. Your card details are kept securely within Hotdoc and are only linked to an individual appointment.
Schedule 8 medication is not prescribed on the first visit to our practice. If a patient is prescribed or requests a prescription for a medication that may be subject to drug dependence or misuse (such as opiates or benzodiazepines), the doctor may take appropriate steps to verify the patient’s medication history. This may include checking relevant prescription monitoring systems, contacting pharmacies or other treating practitioners, or accessing SafeScript NSW where appropriate. These checks may be undertaken to support safe prescribing and reduce the risk of medication-related harm.
All doctors working from our location have stated that any requests for amendments or reissuing of scripts, referrals and certificates require an appointment with the doctor. This request cannot be done through reception or without an appointment.
Port GPs has a zero-tolerance approach to abusive, threatening, or intimidating behaviour towards staff, healthcare practitioners or other patients. This includes shouting, swearing, aggressive actions, threats, inappropriate gestures and name calling. This behaviour will not be tolerated. Where inappropriate or threatening behaviour occurs, Port GPs may take appropriate action, which may include restricting access to the practice or ending the patient-practice relationship where appropriate.
Frequently Asked Questions
We value all feedback. If you would like to leave positive feedback or make a complaint, please email management@portgps.com.au
New Patients:
We are currently accepting new patients. A new patient appointment can be booked via Hotdoc or by calling the practice. Some of our doctors have their books closed and are therefore unable to take on new patients.
After booking a New Patient appointment you will receive the following 2 text messages from Hotdoc;
- To secure your appointment you will be required to add your card details (see Payment Secured Policy for more information)
- A request to complete our New Patient registration form.
Existing Patients:
For all standard consults and telephone consult bookings or to view our doctors availability you can visit www.hotdoc.com.au
If you are unsure what type of appointment you require, please call our reception team to discuss.
Our practice will send you messages from time to time to advise you of any preventative health services you may be due for such as Chronic Disease Management Plans, Cervical Screening, Blood tests etc.
The SMS should contain a link that will take you to Hotdoc and request your name and date of birth for security purposes. Once these are entered you will receive the health message information.
We utilize Hotdoc for appointment confirmation. You will receive a confirmation SMS 24 hours prior to your appointment time. Please respond to the SMS with either ‘Yes’ to confirm or ‘No’ to cancel. We can not reschedule or respond to any questions asked through this service. Please call reception if you have any queries.
If you are unable to respond to the SMS, please do not call reception if you are only wishing to confirm. Your appointment will not be cancelled without confirmation.
Our practice utilizes Hotdoc as an online booking platform and to assist us with contacting patients via SMS for reasons such as recalls, appointment confirmation and payments. For more information regarding Hotdoc please go to www.hotdoc.com.au
Port GPs has ample patient parking and disability parking on site.
Laverty pathology have a collection centre on site at Port GPs which is open Monday – Friday 8am-4pm
Transferring in to our practice:
If you have booked a New Patient appointment and would like to transfer your records to our practice, we request that you complete a request form at reception so we can request these from your previous GP.
Transferring out of our practice:
If you are transferring out of our practice and would like a copy of your medical record sent to a new GP we require an authorized request form from your new practice with your signed consent.
A fee of $30 is required to be paid to our practice prior to release of a full medical record. This is to cover the cost of the administrative work required to complete this request.
Will I be charged a fee for my consult?
We are a mixed billing practice, which means our practice may charge a ‘Gap’ or private fee for some services. Only eligible patients are Bulk Billed. At the same time, all GPs at our practice are independent practitioners who decide their own fees please review your GPs independent billing policy here: https://www.portgps.com.au/doctors-fees
What is bulk-billing?
Bulk-Billing is when the payment for your consultation or treatment with your doctor is covered entirely by Medicare.
Why are patients charged a private fee?
Due to increasing costs of running a medical practice and minimal increases in Medicare rebates our practice has had to make the decision to become a mixed billing practice. By doing so, we can continue to provide high quality healthcare to the community, retain high quality GPs and facilitate a healthy working environment for all staff whilst meeting the costs of running a practice.
What if I don’t have a Medicare Card?
Patients without a valid Medicare or concession card are required to pay a private fee for their consultation.