Information for Patients

Patient Rights

As our patient you not only have the right to safe and high-quality care but also to be treated with respect, dignity and be included in all decisions and choices about your care.

The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights is a guide that explains healthcare rights for you or someone you care for. The charter outlines what every person can expect when receiving care and also provides information on what to do if you have a complaint about your care.  The charter is translated into 19 languages.

For further information visit the Australian Commission on Safety & Quality in healthcare.

Carer Rights & Responsibilities

Working in an open, respectful and collaborative fashion with families, carers and consumers promotes and enhances recovery. With patient consent, carers are invited to attend and keep in contact as much as possible, to the extent that it does not impose serious risk to the patient or others

Carer Rights

With the consent of the consumer, carers and advocates have the right to:

• Exchange information with those providing treatment concerning the consumer’s lifestyles and their relationships with others
• Be consulted about measures under consideration for treatment of the consumer or for his or her welfare
• Seek further opinions regarding the diagnosis and care of the consumer

Carer Responsibilities

You have a responsibility to:

• Respect the human worth and dignity of the person who has a mental health problem
•  Consider the opinions of professional and other staff and recognise their skills in providing care and treatment for the person who has a mental health problem
• Co-operate as far as possible with reasonable programs of treatment and care aimed at returning the consumer to optimal personal autonomy

We accept referrals from all sources, including GP’s, specialists and other third party organisations such as WorkCover.

Different clinicians require slightly different referrals, due to varying requirements from different finding sources.

We also accept referrals for other non-clinical services (e.g. NDIS)

All our referrals are processed by our dedicated Intake Officers who will assist you in connecting with us.

The following information is designed to assist healthcare providers in generating the correct referrals that attract a Medicare rebate for the patient.

Diversity & Inclusion

Cancellation and No-show Policy

When you make an appointment the allocated time is reserved specifically for you.

We know that sometime life throws us a curve ball.  However we do ask for your cooperation in order to be fair to other patients who have had to wait for an appointment.  When patients do not confirm their attendance, or are uncontactable, or simply don’t turn up for their appointment, it disadvantages everyone including those who are waiting to be seen as an appointment slot is then essentially unused, at the expense of the clinician and also other patients.

Reconfirmation is necessary within 48 hours, otherwise your appointment will be cancelled and offered to someone else.  You will get a SMS reminder to your phone 48 hours before your scheduled appointment.  You MUST reply to that reminder to confirm your attendance, otherwise we cannot assume you will turn up and your appointment will be cancelled.  If you need to reschedule or cancel, you must contact us to advise of this.

If you do not confirm via SMS response when confirmation reminders are sent out, and are uncontactable within 24 hours of your appointment and we are unable to confirm your attendance, your appointment will be cancelled and offered to somebody else.  For this reason it is important for you to ensure you have a reachable contact.

We will always work in good faith, and all we ask is for you to reciprocate this.  In order to be fair to other patients, if you miss your confirmed appointment, we can only offer you another appointment upon settlement of a cancellation fee of 100% of the appointment cost.  This fee is non-Medicare rebatable.   This includes no-shows, and any cancellations last-minute (i.e. within 24 hours of your scheduled appointment).

Identification and Photo ID Policy

In a bid to reduce patient identification errors, and preserve the privacy of patients, we capture a photograph of each patient which is attached to their electronic medical file.  Patient identification errors are avoidable errors and the utilisation of photographs, alongside 3 other unique identification features, allows us to align with the patient identification standards of the National Safety & Quality in Health Services Standards.  This also reduces the need for verbal announcement of each patient’s name in the waiting areas, thereby increasing the privacy of each patient.

Other examples of the use of such a robust patient identification system include hospitals (ID bands) and nursing homes (photographs).

If you have any questions or concerns about our Patient Identification and Photographic ID Policy please contact use for more clarification.

Zero-Tolerance to Aggression Policy

All our staff are trained and dedicated to serve you and you will be treated with courtesy and respect at all times. In return, we ask that you and anyone that you bring with you to the Practice treat our administrative and clinical staff with the same courtesy and respect.

We have a ZERO TOLERANCE approach to any verbal or physical aggression towards any of our staff or other patients or visitors.  We respectfully advise you that abuse and/or violence will not be tolerated.  Any breach will result in the offender being asked to leave the premises immediately and will not be permitted entry or provided with any service in the future.   Extreme cases will result in offenders being reported to the police

This applies to any contact, including telephone, electronic or in person.