How to Choose Your Appointment Length
Our Goal
To provide comprehensive medical care with minimal waiting times.
Our Method
The majority of our consultations will be by appointment with the doctor of your choice. However, we run a bulk-billing service each day for which appointments are not available and you will see the first doctor available in order of arrival. At these visits the most urgent or important matter will be addressed and you will need to return for other issues. Wait times may be prolonged.
In the case of an emergency, the doctor or nurse will speak with you over the phone immediately and arrange an appropriate review.
For health problems that arise rapidly, there are times kept aside each day for those requiring an appointment with the doctor of their choice if possible or you may wait for the first available doctor.
For anything non-urgent, we hope to be able to give you an appointment within the week.
Your Contribution
We respect your time as precious and try very hard to keep to schedule. To do this, it is essential that you book an appointment time to match the complexity of the issue of concern. Please think about what you hope to achieve, any potential complicating factors, and try to anticipate issues that your doctor might need to cover.
Consider the following examples as a guideline for making your appointment:
| First visit as a new patient | Nearly always at least a 30-minute appointment |
| Cervical screening test | Includes a general health review so 30 minutes |
| Men’s yearly health check | 30 minutes |
| Antenatal check | 30 minutes |
| Unexplained tiredness | Nearly always 30 minutes |
| New “flu” symptoms | 20 minutes if very unwell otherwise 10 minutes |
| Travel advice | 20 minutes |
| Childhood health checks & vaccinations | Usually 30 mins with nurse than 20 mins with doctor – since includes a growth and developmental assessment |
| List of various concerns | At least 20 minutes (40 minutes if a long list!) |
| Review of a chronic disease | 20 to 30 minutes |
| Psychological distress | At least 40 minutes |
| “I only need a script” | 10 minutes; longer if it is more than 3 months since last reviewed or we need to review several health issues |
| “I need a referral” | For a condition we’ve thoroughly reviewed recently, 10 minutes; longer if new or more than 6 months since last review |
| Follow-up visit for symptom review or results check | 10 minutes may be enough unless you’re unwell or have complex health issues |
Special Circumstances
Your doctor will advise the time needed for particular types of consultations.
For example, the insertion of Implanon will need at least 20 minutes while the excision of one skin lesion may need 20 to 30 minutes.
New Care Plans and full Health Assessments usually need 60 minutes of which half of the time may be booked with the nurse. Reviews of care plans usually need at least 20 minutes with the nurse and 30 minutes with doctor.
First presentation of a work injury will usually take 30 to 40 minutes.
Unexpected Issues
If your consultation reveals other important matters that you’ve not previously recognised, we will formulate a plan to manage them.
This might involve spending some extra time on the day if urgent or scheduling another appointment.
If your list is too long for the time allocated, we will deal with the most important and reschedule to finish the other matters.
Assistance
Because accurate estimates of appointment time will be our best way of avoiding prolonged wait times, we encourage you to ask the advice of our staff or your doctor
