About Us

Exceeding expectations one patient at a time

At Silver Sands General Practice, we are committed to providing you and your loved ones with exceptional care in a compassionate and friendly atmosphere. We believe our patients deserve the best care, and we make every effort to make you feel welcome and at ease. Whether you are coming in for a simple checkup or more complex treatment, our dedicated team have the skills and resources to manage your health needs.

BILLING POLICY

Who is eligible for bulk billing? All patients need to have a current Medicare Card to be eligible for Medicare rebatable services. Bulk billing (no private gap fee) is available for:

All children up to and including the age of 16
Pension Card/Health Care Card holders
Commonwealth Seniors Card holders
Veterans Gold Card (DVA) holders

Potential out of pocket expenses still may occur for some services.

Follow up appointments for results may be bulk billed (one bulk billed follow up per issue only), but this is at the discretion of your treating doctor.

To deliver and maintain the high quality of health care provided at Silver Sands General Practice, we are unable to bulk bill all consultations. Payment is required at the time of consultation using EFTPOS, cash or cheque.

FEES

Short consult................ $50.00
Standard consult.......... $85.00
Long consult................ $125.00
Extended consult........ $160.00

WORKER’S COMPENSATION CONSULTS

All new worker’s compensation consults will be required to make payment in full on the day of their consultation and claim this back from their insurer once the claim is accepted. As soon as a claim is accepted (when you have a claim number), we will be able to bill your fees to the insurer directly. Please note that Silver Sands General Practice has no say in whether your claim is accepted or not.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Please cancel unwanted appointments with a minimum 3 to 4 hours’ notice. Patients who fail to attend their appointments or cancel with less than 3 hours’ notice will be charged a $50 private cancellation fee. This must be paid prior to booking your next appointment and does not attract any Medicare rebate. The cancellation fee also applies to missed telephone appointments.

TELEPHONE ACCESS

GPs in the practice may not be contacted directly at any time. During normal business hours urgent medical enquiries will be put through to our nurse who will advise you regarding the appropriate action or speak to your GP if necessary. Calls from other doctors, pharmacists, hospital staff or other health professionals will be answered by the nurse or the doctor as soon as possible. All requests made via e-mail will be forwarded to the appropriate GP but a response cannot be guaranteed. Please book an appointment to discuss such concerns with your doctor.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

Patients can request our written policy on receiving and returning electronic communication.

REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS

Repeat prescriptions apply to ongoing medications that have been prescribed to you at Silver Sands General Practice in the past. Some repeat prescriptions can be requested via the HOT DOC app. These do not include authority prescriptions or opioids. HOT DOC scripts will be issued with a one business day turn around in most cases but may occasionally be delayed up to three business days. Your doctor may write a note with an issued script, please look for this in your email. If a script request is denied an email note is usually always sent to explain why.

Referrals for ongoing care that have been issued at Silver Sands GP previously and Medical Certificates can also be requested via the HOT DOC app. Please note private fees with no Medicare rebate apply to all HOT DOC requests.

RESULTS, RECALLS & REMINDERS

Results

Patients are required to return for a consultation to obtain test results. If your results are abnormal and/or require urgent attention, we will contact you. To facilitate this, please make sure reception has your current phone number and address details when booking your appointment.
Results will not be given out by reception or nursing staff as per practice policy. We value your health and arrange testing for you when necessary. Discussing results of such tests with your doctor should always be expected a part of your overall health care. We cannot guarantee that results are sent to us by other providers. Therefore, to avoid “lost” results, it is safest to arrange a follow up appointment for all tests.
You can call to ask whether your results have been received. Please be aware that reception staff are not clinically trained to recognise the relevance of particular test results. Therefore, the advice you are given during such call is merely a guide.

Recalls and Reminders

The Clinic has a policy to recall patients if the doctor has raised any concerns, to discuss test results or for routine reminders. This is part of our commitment to your health needs and from time to time you may also receive health reminders offering you preventative health services. Please advise us if you do not want to be a part of this service.

REFERRALS

Higher Medicare rebates are available for specialist services if you are referred by your GP. This ensures your specialist is made aware of any relevant information that may be needed to assist in your care.
Please ensure that you check with your specialist’s secretary whether your referral is current or not when you make your specialist appointment. If not, please make an appointment to see your doctor prior to your specialist appointment.
Medicare does not allow referrals to be backdated.
Referrals for ongoing care that have been issued at Silver Sands General Practice previously can also be requested via the HOT DOC app for a private fee. This is usually the fastest way to get a referral at late notice.

PRACTICE PRESCRIBING POLICY

This practice has policies and procedures to identify individuals who are “Doctor Shopping”.
This policy exists to care for and for the protection of patients, community and doctors. Please do not be offended if your request is refused.
All of our staff have been trained to treat our patients with respect and courtesy. Similarly, we ask for respect and courtesy from our patients.
When prescribing medications doctors take all reasonable steps to ensure a continued medical need exists. We do not prescribe to support drug dependence.
It is the patient’s responsibility to give a complete and accurate medical history to the doctor. To see our full practice prescribing policy please ask reception.