Click here to view our Practice Information sheet
At The Local Doctor we are a private billing practice and payment is required at the time of your consultation.
Reduced fees are offered on weekdays at our Ivanhoe location to patients who are health care card holders or pensioner card holders until Medicare Safety Net has been met.
You can find out if you have reached your Medicare Safety Net through your Medicare online account
Common fees are listed in the Fee Schedule below.
Click here to view our current Diamond Creek Fee Schedule.
Click here to view the current Ivanhoe Fee Schedule.
Click here to view Credit Card Authorisation FAQ’s
Our receptionists can process your Medicare rebate at the time of payment on the spot or process it through Medicare automatically into your nominated bank account within 48 hours. You need to register your nominated bank account with Medicare directly. We are a no cash clinic, please use your EFTPOS card. You will require a current and valid Medicare card to claim a rebate. Patients without a valid Medicare card will be required to pay the account in full before the consultation.
We are accepting new patients at both our Diamond Creek and Ivanhoe practices. See below our New Patient forms.
Appointments can be made by:
- Calling 03 8373 4646 during our opening hours, or
- Online at any time, visit www.thelocaldoctor.com.au and follow the prompts.
At The Local Doctor, our standard appointment times are 20 minutes. This allows more time to address your concerns and provide thorough care. Please note, not all issues may be able to be fully addressed in one appointment and review appointments may be needed.
Please make a separate appointment for each person that requires a consultation, even if you are seeing the same doctor. We endeavour to prioritise urgent consultations.
Important notes on appointments:
- If you have a fever or respiratory symptoms, please call the reception on arrival to our clinic and stay in your car. The doctor will start the consultation with a phone call and then assess you in your car in protective gear.
- Telehealth appointments are available. A Medicare rebate is only available for patients who have attended our clinic for a face-to-face appointment in the last twelve months.
- A deposit is required at the time of booking a full skin check or a procedure to secure your booking.
- Employment medicals cannot be claimed from Medicare.
- If you require a work cover consultation, please let the reception know before you make a booking as only certain doctors provide Work Cover consultations. The patient is generally required to pay the full fee to the clinic at the end of the consultation and the patient will be responsible to contact their insurer to claim back the funds.
Cancellations
We understand that you may at times need to cancel or reschedule an appointment. If you need to do so, we kindly request you give us sufficient notice before your appointment time, so that other patients have an opportunity to be seen.
Cancellation of standard appointments
A minimum of 2 hours notice for all standard appointments is required when cancelling or rescheduling an appointment. Failure to give notice within this time frame incur a ‘did not attend fee’ equal to the GAP fee
Cancellation of skin checks and procedures
A minimum of 24 hours notice for all skin checks and procedures is required when cancelling or rescheduling an appointment. Failure to give notice within this time frame will result in a ‘did not attend’ and your deposit will be forfeited.
If you have any cold/flu/respiratory symptoms you will be required to reschedule your procedure/skin check appointment, failure to do this within an appropriate time frame will result in a forfeit of your deposit
Routine immunisations including routine childhood vaccines are performed by our practice nurse and the consultations are bulk billed for patients with a valid Medicare card. However, 6 weeks immunisations and travel vaccine immunisations will also require a doctors consultation, as both require more thorough doctor assessments.
Ear suctioning for the removal of ear wax is performed by our doctors in the clinic who have been trained in the use of microsuction techniques. Ear wax softening drops are also required three days prior to ear suctioning.
If you require a procedure, in general you will need to first make an appointment with the doctor to discuss the procedure in more detail before it can be booked in. A deposit will be required at the time of booking the procedure to secure the appointment.
After your procedure, you may need to make another appointment for removal of sutures or wound review for dressing changes. These are done by our practice nurse, and the doctor who performed the procedure will generally do a quick assessment to ensure everything is progressing well.
Results of investigations that your doctor has requested generally require review appointments. All abnormal results will require an appointment with the doctor for further discussion. In some cases, normal results for simple investigations may be able to be conveyed via SMS. Please discuss with your doctor during the consultation how your results will be given.
Please note: Standard consultation fees will apply for all required result appointments
A General Practitioner Management Plan (GPMP) is a written plan to help you manage a chronic and/or complex condition, e.g. diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer. As part of your plan, your doctor may identify that you could benefit from the assistance of other Health Care providers. A Team Care Arrangement involves a minimum of two other health care professionals who will provide ongoing services in addition to your doctor e.g. specialist, physiotherapist, dietician or podiatrist. If you are unsure if you qualify for a plan, please see you doctor. Medicare Australia has restrictions on who can and cannot receive management plans.
It is important that you are reviewed prior to issuing referrals to reassess your progress and review. Referrals require a review appointment with your GP.
Medicare does not allow referrals to be backdated, so check with your specialist’s rooms if your referral is still valid. If it is out of date, please make an appointment with your GP for a new referral before your appointment with the specialist.
It is important that you are reviewed prior to issuing scripts to reassess your progress and review. Routine scripts require a review appointment, except in some circumstances at the doctors discretion. A fee of $15 is charged for a repeat script if provided without an appointment.
Should you have a query for your doctor you may leave a message with reception via telephone or email, who will relay the message to the doctor. The doctor will advise if it is more appropriate for you to make an appointment to discuss your enquires further.
Please be advised that the email inbox is not monitored 24/7, and there may be a delay in receiving and responding to your message.
Any inquiry addressed to a doctor will be passed on through our internal communications system, this means the doctor may not receive the message until they’re next in the clinic. This could be days or weeks.
Although as a courtesy we will pass any correspondence sent to us on to the doctor, it must be emphasised that this is not a method of communication with doctors and any clinical questions or concerns are better addressed by making an appointment.
If you have any concerns that you feel are urgent or require medical advice, we strongly recommend that you do not rely on email communication. Instead, please book an appointment or seek immediate assistance by presenting to your local emergency department or calling 000.
For non-urgent matters or appointment queries, please continue to send your email or call and our reception team will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.
Your health and wellbeing are important to us, and we want to ensure you receive the appropriate care in a timely manner.
We use fax and ARGUS, a secure messaging system to transmit sensitive information on your behalf to hospitals and specialists. We do not use email as it is an unsecured form of communication.
It is important to keep our records of your current address and details updated, so we may ask you from time to time if the details we have are correct.
We are committed to preventative care and may send you a reminder notice via mail or SMS offering you an appointment in relation to preventative healthcare. If you do not want to receive a reminder letter please notify reception staff so that we can take you off the reminder list.
There are a number of things you can do to ensure you get the most out of you appointment:
- Check if any of your scripts are due for renewal before your consultation with the doctor.
- Provide a list of your health concerns and any scripts or referrals you need to your doctor at the start of the consultation. Please be aware it is not always possible to attend to everything in one consultation, and you may need to make a subsequent appointment to thoroughly attend to all your concerns.
The provision of quality health care requires a doctor-patient relationship of trust and confidentiality.
View our Privacy Policy here.
Feedback is always welcome. We strive to provide you with healthcare that is caring, friendly, and thorough, and it is important to us that we continually improve the way we deliver our services. If you have any feedback, please call our clinic to speak to our practice manager.
If you are unhappy about a health service provided to you or a family member, please contact us to speak to either our treating doctor or our practice manager as a matter of priority. For further advice regarding health service related complaints please contact the Health Quality and Complaints Commission on 07 3120 5999.
We understand you don’t need a doctor just within normal business hours.
The Local Doctor offers after hours consults between 6pm-11pm weeknights. You can book this through our “book now” tab.
When we are closed, you can call the after hours doctor service Doctor Doctor via13 26 60 to have access to 24 hour care.
For medical emergencies please dial 000. Emergency care is available privately at Northpark Private Hospital emergency departments. Public emergency care is available at Austin Hospital and Northern Hospital.
Patients are encouraged to use the free Translating and Interpreting Service. Please let reception know when you book your appointment if you need an interpreter. This free service is available 24 hours a day via telephone on 131 450. Please visit their website for more information: http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/helpwithenglish/help_with_translating/translation_help.htm
Another free interpreting service is available for patients who are deaf and use Australian sign language (AUSLAN). Phone them on 1800 246 945 or visit their website www.nabs.org.au