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Appointments

We offer same day appointments for existing patients with urgent matters. Blackwood Clinic warmly welcomes all new patients.  

New Patients

New Patient Form - Please complete and bring along to your first appointment.

We warmly welcome all new patients and families to the Blackwood Clinic. If your matter is urgent, please present to your local hospital emergency department or call TRIPLE ZERO (000).

Please note we are a private billing clinic. You can find more details about our fee structure here

Prior to your first visit, please complete the New Patient Registration form and bring this to your appointment.

New patients may be asked to make a long appointment in order to allow enough time to update past medical history as well as address the presenting complaint. We can organise for your past medical records to be transferred from your previous doctor.

The practice endeavours to make appointments available on a daily basis for patients who need urgent medical care- please advise reception if you are unwell and need urgent review. Reception staff may need either a nurse or doctor to assess the urgency.

Booking Options

To book an appointment at the Blackwood Clinic please call 82786666 or use our convenient online website booking system above.
We use the services of HotDoc for all online bookings and their privacy policy can be found here.

Longer Appointments

Please note, the following consultations require appointments of 30 minutes with our doctors:

  • Initial skin cancer checks
  • Multiple health issues
  • Surgical procedures
  • Insurance medicals

Telehealth

Our Doctors offer telephone appointments for our patients. Under Medicare rules patients must have been seen in the last 12 months to be eligible for a medicare rebate.

You can book a telephone appointment online via hotdoc or by phoning our reception team. Please keep in mind that you may need to be seen face to face by your GP and ask yourself is a telephone appointment appropriate?

Standard fee's apply for a telephone consult, please see our fee's page for more information.

Home Visits

Should you need a home visit please speak to our reception staff. Home Visits are offered for patients only after approval from the GP. Genreally if people are extremely unwell and cant attend the clinic you may need to call an ambulance.

Electronic Reminders

At times it is necessary for the practice to send you a reminder, for example when your Cervical Screening Test or other routine health checks are due. Your doctor may on an individual basis arrange to send other reminders. Please ensure your contact details are kept up to date with reception staff. We participate in all National, State & Territory Reminder Systems. Please indicate to your doctor if you do not wish to receive a reminder.

Nurse Bookings

Reception staff are able to make most nursing appointments but there are some bookings for specific services (such as Chronic Disease Management plans and Home Health Assessments) that need to be done by nursing staff. You will be phoned back by the nurse where appropriate for this to occur. When requesting these services for the first time it may be necessary to see a doctor first for eligibility assessment if this has not already been done.

Prescriptions

Repeat prescriptions require an appointment to ensure that your health status is being monitored appropriately. It is preferable but not imperative that you try to book the appointment with your usual GP. Most scripts last for 6 months (with repeats) which we feel offers enough time to plan ahead. Some patients have multiple scripts- please talk to your doctor about getting repeats done for all of your medications at the same visit if appropriate.

New prescriptions and prescriptions for travelling overseas require a standard 15 minute appointment.

It is Blackwood Clinic's Policy that Drugs of Dependence will NOT be prescribed to new patients. Drugs of Dependence medications include Opiods, Benzodiazepines and Stimulants.

Referral Letters

Repeat or ongoing referrals require a standard 15 minute appointment. This allows doctors to keep patient records as up-to-date as possible which is reflected in the referral and keeps specialists well-informed of any changes in your health status.
New referrals, or referrals for problems that have recurred, also require a standard appointment to allow the doctor to assess/reassess the best approach to further management. This may include a referral letter but may also include further investigations or other strategies.
At times patients present requesting "referrals" to allied health practitioners. For DVA card holders there are specific referral forms to be completed. Other patients may be referring to coordinated referrals as part of a management plan- either mental health-related or chronic disease-related (see below). A normal appointment is required to assess these.

*Please note that it is the patients responsibility to make sure they have a valid referral BEFORE making an appointment with a specialist. By law our doctors are unable to back date referrals.

Mental Health Treatment Plans

Mental health treatment plans are designed to improve management of mental health conditions. These are a way of ensuring both doctor and patient understand and agree upon the diagnosis and intended management, and are to be reviewed on a regular basis.

You must be assessed by your doctor for eligibility prior to commencing a plan. They are not intended solely as a referral for psychological services. Most doctors require at least a 30 minute appointment to complete a mental health treatment plan appropriately.

Chronic Disease Management

Your doctor may suggest that you are eligible for a chronic disease management plan. Not all medical illnesses qualify. If eligible, the plan is commenced by nursing staff and reviewed with your doctor. Nursing staff will make sure the correct booking is made depending on your specific needs.

The aim of the chronic disease management plans is to increase patients' understanding of their illness and it's care, and to ensure regular review and attainment of treatment goals. Nursing staff send reminders to ensure the reviews occur at the appropriate times. Patients are provided with a written plan. Some patients will also be eligible for "Team Care Arrangements" if they require multiple health practitioners to be involved in their care- your doctor and/or nursing staff will speak to you about this further at your appointment.

Emergencies

As stated above, we keep appointments available every day for urgent matters including acute illness and injuries. Please ensure that you phone reception staff as soon as you are able to ensure you can be seen. Please advise if you are experiencing acute chest pain or shortness of breath as you may require an ambulance.

As these conditions and the demand for them is unpredictable there may be delays in scheduled appointments. Our reception staff will do their best to keep you informed of any delays. We appreciate your understanding and patience. If for any reason you think you cannot wait please inform reception staff and they will reschedule you at your earliest convenience. Reception staff are happy for patients to phone ahead if required regarding their appointment time and will do their best to predict any delays.

Results

Results can be accessed by phoning reception staff between the hours of 2-5pm weekdays. The reception staff are able to read out any comments left by the doctor checking the results. If you would prefer to speak to your doctor about your results, please make an appointment. Your doctor should advise you when to expect the results to be available.
It is likely that your doctor will contact you in an emergency- please ensure your contact details are kept up to date with reception staff.

Cancellations

There is a fee for late cancellations- please see Fees for further information. Appointments are precious and we would appreciate at least 4 hours advanced notice of inability to attend.

Catastrophic Fire Days

As the Blackwood Clinic is situated in a high risk area for catastrophic fire danger days we have decided to close the clinic on these days for the safety of our patients and staff.

We will make every attempt to contact patients who have scheduled appointments for that day to inform them of the cancellation of their appointment.

We check the CFS website each day after 16:00 during the fire season.

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