Your Visits
Emergency Care
Call 000 or present to your closest hospital.
After Hours
We offer a private after-hours service that is staffed by our GPs on a rotating basis. Our on-call doctor can be contacted outside of our regular business hours. Private after-hours fees apply.
Appointments
Booking – standard vs long
We are able to pre-book appointments up to 2 years in advance. We encourage our patients to pre-book their routine appointments. Our standard appointment time is 15 mins. If you have multiple or complex issues to discuss we recommend you request a long appointment to allow sufficient time to address your concerns.
Urgent appointments
We reserve a number of Urgent appointments each day for patients with urgent issues. These appointments are charged at our standard practice fees. These appointments are limited and are reserved for urgent matters. For routine matters, we ask that you pre-book your appointments in advance.
Telehealth to GP
Goondiwindi Medical Centre continues to offer Telehealth for consultations. You will get a Medicare rebate (that is, Medicare will pay for part or all of your consultation – depending on concession status) if you are a regular patient of our practice. A regular patient by Medicare definition is someone who has been seen face to face at the practice in the last 12 months.
We offer telephone and video consultations – video consultation is with the use of a camera on your phone or device. Video consultation is preferable – it allows us to see how you are as well as hear how you are. We can see how you are feeling, how you are breathing, what the rash or skin lesion looks like, how alert your child is and how you move your joints. Please ask for a video consult – if we experience technical issues or you have concerns we can revert to the telephone if we need.
If we decide in the consultation you need to be examined face to face we can arrange this too.
Telehealth to specialist
Telehealth allows patients in remote areas to connect with healthcare providers* in major centres without the need to travel. We have telehealth facilities available if you are not able to connect from home. We charge $25 for this service. Speak to your GP and specialist about whether this is an available option for you.
Missed appointments
If you miss your appointment or cancel within 1 hour of your appointment time you will be charged $30. This fee will need to be paid before another appointment is booked for you.
We have a daily cancellation list, so if you cancel your appointment with sufficient time, we are able to offer that time to another patient. An appointment missed by you is an appointment missed by two!
Cancellation
Please contact us if you need to cancel or change your appointment time.
Fees & Billing
The Goondiwindi Medical Centre is a private practice. The standard billing structure for pre-booked appointments includes bulk billing for current pension concession card holders and a discounted fee for health care card holders. In most cases, we are able to use Easy-Claim or Patient Claiming to assist in claiming your Medicare rebate. Easy-Claim rebates are able to be credited using your key card to a cheque or a savings account instantly and Patient Claiming uses the details Medicare have on their file to deposit your rebate into your bank account (generally processed overnight). Any other bulk billing is at the discretion of the treating doctor, not the reception staff.
Short Consultation
- Private Fee $45
- Medicare rebate $18.85
- Out of pocket $26.15
Standard Consultation
- Private Fee $86
- Medicare rebate $41.40
- Out of pocket $44.60
Long Consultation
- Private Fee $150
- Medicare rebate $80.10
- Out of pocket $69.90
Other Services
Appointments for Medicals
We are able to offer appointments for our patients to have medical reports completed. Medical’s such as Commercial Driving, Over 75 Driving, Pre-Employment and Insurance. These appointments are not eligible for a Medicare rebate and our standard practice fees for these services apply. Fees are dependent on the length and complexity of the paperwork completed. In some instances, you may be able to claim this cost in your tax return. Please speak to our reception staff when booking for pricing information.
Procedures
GMC is equipped with 3 treatment rooms in which we are able to perform minor procedures such as excisions of skin lesions, Mirena insertion and removal, Implanon insertion and removal, catheter changes and suture removal.
Dressings
Our clinical nurses are able to apply and change dressings for our patients. Dressings are charged at $10 per application or change.
Immunisations
- Scheduled Government funded immunisations including childhood immunisations
- Catch up Government funded childhood immunisations
- Private vaccines such as Hep A/B, Typhoid, Meningococcal, Whooping Cough, Influenza, Shingles, and Pneumococcal
- Q-Fever
- Yellow Fever
Telehealth to specialist
We have telehealth facilities available. Telehealth allows patients in remote areas to connect with healthcare providers* in major centres without the need to travel. Telehealth appointments with your specialist from GMC are $25. Speak to your GP and specialist about whether this is an available option for you.
Phone Enquiries
Script requests
It is generally not appropriate for doctors to write and provide prescriptions without an appointment. Only under exceptional circumstances, your doctor may agree to provide a short term prescription, for which there will be a private fee charged that is non-refundable through Medicare.
Referral requests
It is generally not appropriate for doctors to write and provide referrals without an appointment. Only under exceptional circumstances, your doctor may agree to provide a referral for a known issue, for which there will be a private fee charged that is non-refundable through Medicare.
Results
If you have had tests done, we recommend you book another appointment to discuss the results with your GP. If your GP receives any results that require further investigation, discussion or action we will contact you through a letter sent in the mail or a phone call. It is important that we have your current contact details. Please let us know if you update your phone number or address.
Please do not assume no news is good news. Our reception staff are able to advise if your GP has marked a result with a recall action, they are not able to tell you a specific result and we suggest you see your GP for this information. Please call after 9am if you would like to enquire on the status of your results.
Managing Patient Information
Privacy Policy
In accordance with the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 and the Health Records Act 2001(Vic), the Goondiwindi Medical Centre has developed this Privacy Policy to describe the processes under which personal information is collected, stored, used and disclosed by the Goondiwindi Medical Centre. The Goondiwindi Medical Centre collects only information required to deliver a high standard of medical care. This information is collected in a lawful and informed manner. The information collected is protected under the ten privacy principles. Patient records can only be accessed by doctors within the Goondiwindi Medical Centre. Doctors from the Goondiwindi Medical Centre have access to patient information when they are consulting at Goondiwindi Health Services (Goondiwindi Hospital). No information shall be released without written permission from the patient or where it is required by law. The Goondiwindi Medical Centre Privacy Policy is available on request. It is also available on the website – see the link below. The Goondiwindi Medical Centre Privacy Officer is the Practice Manager.
Request to transfer records
With your consent, we are able to forward your relevant medical history to your new treating doctor. Speak with your new treating doctor about completing a request for records form. A small administration fee may apply.
My Health Record
A My Health Record has been created for all Australians who haven’t opted out of the program. Through your my Health Record, your health information can be viewed securely online by those involved in your care. It can contain important information such as allergies, medicines you are prescribed, diagnosed medical conditions, and pathology test results. Speak to your doctor about what information you would like included in your My Health Record.
For more information about My Health Record, visit https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/. To opt out, call 1800 723 471 or log into your MyGov account.