Health Assessments including:
Diabetes Risk Check
Preventive Health Check (45-49 year olds)
Senior Health Checks (75+ yrs)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Health Checks
Chronic Disease Management:
Asthma
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Kidney Disease
Health Assessments including:
Diabetes Risk Check
Preventive Health Check (45-49 year olds)
Senior Health Checks (75+ yrs)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Health Checks
Chronic Disease Management:
Asthma
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Kidney Disease
Biopsies and Excision Information
Before your Procedure
• Your lesion will be biopsied or removed under a local anaesthetic. The local anaesthetic numbs the area around the lesion allowing it to be biopsied or removed with limited discomfort.
• It is not necessary to go without food before your procedure, but if you think the procedure may make you feel queasy it may be better only to have a light meal before you come in.
• As with any surgical procedure there is a small chance of bleeding, infection and scar formation. Your GP will have already discussed these risks with you, but if you have any concerns or questions please ask the GP before the procedure begins.
• It is important that your GP is aware of all the medications you are taking including over the counter medications and natural supplements. Please be sure to inform your GP of this information.
• It is extremely important that you inform your GP of any allergies or sensitivities that you have to any medications, chemicals, lotions, dressings, latex or foodstuffs.
On the day of your procedure
• Please make sure you have showered on the day
• The skin specimen removed during a biopsy or excision is usually send to pathology for examination. Generally the results are returned to your GP within few days.
• The excision site may be closed with paper sutures (called Steristrips), bio-glue, or sewn together with nylon sutures. In some cases your GP may use two layers of sutures. The layer underneath will be absorbable and the layer on the surface may need to be removed 5-14 days later.
• Your wound will be covered with a protective dressing and your GP will discuss any specific information you need to know about caring for your wound following surgery.
After your Procedure
• The area around the excision will remain numb for a short time. Once the anaesthetic begins to wear off you may experience a gentle throbbing sensation. A mild pain killer, such as paracetamol, will help to reduce any discomfort.
• If you have stitches it is important to keep the wound site clean and dry. Some dressings are waterproof and should withstand the gentle spray from the shower. Check with your GP or nurse about what type of dressing you will have and how to care for it.
• After a few days the site may become itchy. It is important not to scratch.
• If the wound develops an increase in redness, swelling, pain or discharge, or you develop a fever contact the practice for advice 65731577 during 9-5 pm or if after hours contact Singleton District Hospital 6571 9222.
Removal of your Sutures
Your GP will inform you of when you should return to have your sutures removed by the practice nurse. An appointment of suture removal will be made on the day of your procedure.
Pathology Results
• If your skin lesion is sent to Pathology for examination, your GP should have the results back within a few days. If you have not heard from us within a week, call to check that the results have returned.
• Examination of the lesion by Pathology will indicate what the lesion is and whether all of it has been removed. If the results suggest that not all of the lesion was removed, a second procedure may be required. This is particularly important if the lesion is found to be cancerous.
Questions
If you are unsure about anything before, during or after your procedure, please feel free to ask your GP and or Nurse.
If you will be unable to make it to a booked appointment, please let us know as soon as possible on 65 731 577 so that we can offer your appointment time to another patient. Please note that failure to attend your appointment or provide sufficient notice of cancellation (within 2 hours), will result in a Non-attendance letter advising that the next missed appointment will result in a $75.00 administration fee, that must be paid prior to being able to rebook another appointment at the practice.
To book appointments the practice phones are open Monday-Friday 8.00 am – 5.15 pm.
We are closed weekends and public holidays.
We understand that sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of all your medications. If your script runs out and there are no requests left it is important to contact us. Your doctor may want to see you before issuing a repeat script.
Prescriptions can be electronically sent to your phone or pharmacy of your choice or printed in hard copy form, please advise your doctor at the time of your appointment.
Medical referrals will not be issued without a consultation with a doctor.
An appointment is required so that the doctor can obtain relevant health information, review your health and organise the most appropriate specialist and or procedure required.
It is an important legal document and should be retained in a secured manner.
Replacement referrals may incur a fee.
Specialist referrals have a time limit of either 3, 6 or 12 months. Please always check when making your appointment that your referral is still valid.
Please ensure that you take your referral with you when attending your specialist appointment as it may be difficult to obtain a replacement referral on the day.
Higher fees may be charged by the specialist for the visit without a referral.
When you are unwell the last thing you want to do is sit in the waiting room for an hour. Our doctors try their best to run on time, but there are a few things that you can do to help.
Tell your doctor all the things you want to discuss at the start of the appointment. That way your doctor will be able to address your most important health concerns first and ask you to return for any non-urgent needs that may require more time.
Be responsible for your medications. Don’t leave it to the last minute to get a script. It is very hard for doctors to write scripts from phone requests. Often your doctor will want to check how you are going on your medication before issuing a new prescription.
From time to time appointment delays are unavoidable. This may be due to an emergency or an unexpected extended patient appointment. We understand that waiting can be frustrating and inconvenient however we ask that you respect the needs of other patients and appreciate the care that your doctor provides to everyone. If you think you will be unable to wait, please speak with our reception staff.
Consultations are by appointment only. Should you require a longer appointment please advise reception at the time of booking.
For new patients, when you attend the practice for the first time, you may be booked in for a long appointment so that the doctor can gather all the necessary information and background medical history required to begin your care.
Antenatal, surgical procedures, dressings and immunisations must be booked with both the doctor and the nurse.
The clinic is run on a weekly basis on a Wednesday in a dedicated consultation room.
Our fully qualified Family Planning Registered Nurse Leanne is available for an extensive women’s health check including:
• Pap Smear
• Breast Check
• Contraceptive Advice
• Menopause Advice
• Continence Advice
Appointments are 30 mins in duration and require a booking.
This service is Medicare Funded and will be bulkbilled.
Medical certificates will not be issued without a consultation with a doctor.
An appointment is required so that the doctor can obtain relevant information and review your health.
Supplement Certificates may be issued following an initial consultation.
It is an important legal document and should be retained in a secure manner.
Replacement certificates may incur a fee.
Any paperwork that require a Doctor to complete will require an appointment.
Many forms require your GP to review your health and health information, this often takes time. Some paperwork requires reports to be written.
Please advise reception what the form is when making your appointment, so as the most suitable appointment is booked.
Types of paperwork may include:
• Insurance
• WorkCover
• RMS
• Centrelink
• NDIS
To minimize disruptions to patients whilst in consultation phone calls to the Doctor are triaged. Urgent phone calls will be put through to the doctor immediately; messages will be taken for all non-urgent calls.
If you are unsure if your call is urgent please give us as much information as possible about your health concern. Our reception staff are trained in Triage and will help you to determine whether your phone call will be put through or a message taken. If more assistance is required one of our nurses will be able to help.
Your doctor will advise you at the consultation whether he wants you to return to discuss results or if we will contact you if required on receipt of the results.
It is always a good idea to contact us after a week if you have not received your results.
Blood and imaging results are usually returned to our practice within 24-72 hours, although some tests may take more time.
If your GP is away on leave another GP will check any incoming results for them and we will contact you if anything needs to be discussed.
We use a reminder system for alerting patients to upcoming or overdue care activities (pap tests, Health Assessments, Immunisations etc.). You may receive a letter, text message or phone call reminder. If you do not wish to participate in our reminder system, please let our reception staff know.