Boyup Brook Medical Services

78B Abel Street, Boyup Brook WA 6244
Ph: 9765 1026
Fax: 9765 1788                                 
Email: reception@boyupmedical.com.au 

Information

Meet the Team

Our General Practitioners are Dr. Mildred Chiwara and Dr. Kabindra Dhakal. Both doctors are rostered on at the local hospital to provide after hours’ services. Kelly O’Reilly is our Practice Nurse. Jess, Pia and Madison are our friendly and experienced reception staff and Janette Kuypers is our Practice Manager.

We will make every effort to assist you. Please advise us if you have any special needs or requirements.

Practice Hours

We are open Monday to Friday 8.00am- 4.30pm. Our answering machine message and the notice on our front door will advise you about possible changes at times.

Patient Appointments

If you would like to see a doctor, please call us on 9765 1026.  Consultations are generally 15 minutes. Longer appointments can be made upon request. Every effort will be made to accommodate your preferred time and doctor.  Emergencies at the hospital may require the doctor to be called away, and we will endeavour to contact you and advise you if there are unforeseen delays. SMS messages may be sent to you to remind you of an appointment that you have. If you do not want to receive SMS messages, please advise Reception.

After Hours Arrangements

In the event of an emergency please call 000

The doctors are generally available after hours for accidents and emergencies Monday to Friday and most weekends. To access after-hours care at the hospital please call the Boyup Brook Hospital on 9765 0222, or attend in person and the hospital staff will make contact with a doctor on your behalf. When a local doctor is not available, the hospital will contact a specialist emergency medicine doctor via the emergency telehealth service (video conferencing) or the doctor on call in Bridgetown.   Alternatively, phone Health Direct on 1800 022 222.

Home Visits and Accessing a Doctor by Phone or Electronically

Home visits (within shire boundaries) or phone consults may be arranged for those who are unable to attend the surgery, such as the disabled, frail aged and terminally ill. These are usually pre-arranged, at the discretion of the doctor. In the event of an emergency please call 000. Our staff can be contacted by email. Any email address to the doctors will be given to them. However, please keep in mind that emails are not encrypted, and can be accessed by any member of our staff. Emails are only accessed during office hours. Hence we do not guarantee that your electronic message will be secure and read in a timely manner. Emails are not a suitable replacement for a face-to-face consult and should not be used as such.

Reception reception@boyupmedical.com.au

Services Available

Our practice provides the following services:

  • Practice consultations
  • Citizens Lodge consultations
  • Hospital admissions and emergency presentations
  • Minor general surgery (lumps & bumps)
  • Basic ultrasound
  • Holter monitoring
  • Ear Syringing
  • Pregnancy testing / pre & post natal care
  • Women’s health
  • Men’s health
  • Child and adolescent health
  • Immunisations / vaccinations
  • Driving medicals
  • Insurance / pre-employment medicals
  • Cortisone injections
  • Hepatitis C treatment
  • Dermatology & skin (checks, cancer removal, biopsies, warts, liquid nitrogen treatment)
  • Mental health
    • GP Mental Health Treatment Plans, Review and Consultation items
    • Visiting psychologist (B.A; B. Psych; Assoc MAPS)
    • GP Focused Psychological Strategies
  • Chronic Disease Management and Health Assessments
  • Video consultations with specialists

The medical centre doctors work closely with allied health professionals who work from the practice rooms. Current visiting allied health services are:

  • Osteopath – ph 0460 938 351
  • Psychologist – ph 0417 173 558
  • Physiotherapist – ph 0417 173 549
  • Podiatrist – ph 0419 966 987
  • Dietitian – by referral
  • Exercise Physiologist – ph 0488 734 221

Patient Health Information

In order to give you the highest quality health care that you deserve, we need to collect some important information about you and your health. Every new patient is asked to fill out a patient health summary. If you haven’t filled out a patient health summary in the past or your details have changed, please advise Reception as soon as possible.

Billing Practices

We bulk bill patients who have a valid Medicare card and Concession card. Concession cards are Health care cards, Pensioner concession cards, Commonwealth senior cards and Veteran’s Affairs cards. We also bulk bill children under 16 years of age that are registered on a current Medicare card.

We can only bulk bill you if you have a valid Medicare card and concession card. If you receive a new Medicare card or concession, please bring it with you to the surgery so we can update your details on the computer. Concession cards expire regularly. If your concession card expires and you cannot show us a new one, we cannot bulk bill you and you will have to pay a fee. It is your responsibility to make sure you have a valid concession card if you are entitled to it.

Private patients are required to pay for their consult on the day. We have EFTPOS facilities available. We can also claim your rebate for you through the Patient Claim Facility with Medicare. A rebate is paid into your bank account by Medicare within 24 hours.

Fees

Refer to the Annual Budget in the Document Centre for all fees and charges.

Boyup Brook Medical Centre fees are:

Type 3

Short Consult

$45.00

Type 23

Standard Consult

$80.00

Type 36

Long Consult

$125.00

Type 44

Extended Consult

$175.00

 

Additional fees may apply. Referral by our doctors to services such as pathology, imaging, specialist or allied health services may incur an out of pocket expense.

Repeat Prescriptions

Repeat prescriptions and referrals without seeing a doctor at the practice will incur a fee. The fee for concession holders $10.00, private patients $15.00. If you are unsure about what fees you will have to pay, please ask reception staff for more information. If you prefer you can see a doctor for repeat prescriptions. Please bring in your old medication boxes if possible.

Workers Compensation

Please advise the reception staff if your consult is in relation to Workers Compensation. We will need to get several details from you. The account will be sent to your Employer/Insurer for payment. If the claim is rejected, you are responsible for payment of the account (redeemable through Medicare).

Receiving Test Results

At the end of every consultation the doctor will discuss the follow up of your problems with you. Quite often tests are requested, i.e. X-rays, CT scan, blood tests etc. The following applies:

  • If the doctor tells you that they would like to see you after the tests to discuss the results, please make an appointment.
  • If the test may not require a follow up appointment the following procedure applies:

When the doctor receives your test results and they are normal, we will file the results of the test into your patient file and you will not be contacted by us. When the doctor receives your tests results and the doctor would like to see you, then we will contact you to make an appointment. Please note that it is also your responsibility to follow up on your test results and you can always make an appointment to discuss the results with the doctor.

Bring Your Medications With You

Please bring along any medications you take when you come to visit the doctor e.g. tablets, vitamins, creams or herbal medicines. It is important for the doctor to see what brands and doses you are taking. And yes, most medications are recorded in our computer system but the computer is not always correct, complete and up to date. So please do bring your medication boxes with you every time when you come to see the doctor.

Support Person

When you come to see the doctor you can get a lot of information about medications, pathology tests, referrals, diagnostic services etc. This can be confusing and if you are concerned and would like to have a support person with you, please feel free to do so. Sometimes two can understand better than one.

Recall and Reminder System

This practice uses a recall and reminder system. Recalls are used to recall patients back to the practice to discuss a result that requires a follow up. Reminders are used as preventative activities for patients.

Rights

If you have a problem, concern or suggestion we would very much like to hear about it. We are always looking for quality improvement opportunities and our patients are one of our best sources of information on how we perform. Please feel free to talk to any of our staff members. A complaints, compliments and suggestion box is also located next to our front door. If you wish to discuss a serious matter with an independent organisation, you may contact the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office in Perth, ph. 1800 813 583.

Your Privacy

Consent

When you register as a patient of our practice, you provide consent for our GPs and practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only staff who need to see your personal information will have access to it. If we need to use your information for anything else, we will seek additional consent from you to do this.

Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?

Our practice will need to collect your personal information to provide healthcare services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, practice audits and accreditation, and business processes (e.g. staff training).

What personal information do we collect?

The information we will collect about you includes:

  • names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
  • medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
  • Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
  • healthcare identifiers
  • health fund details.

Dealing with us anonymously

You have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym unless it is impracticable for us to do so or unless we are required or authorized by law to only deal with identified individuals.

How do we collect your personal information?

Our practice will collect your personal information:

  1. When you make your first appointment our practice staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
  2. During the course of providing medical services, we may collect further personal information. This may include collection through Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP) and the MyHealth Record/PCEHR system, e.g. via a Shared Health Summary or Event Summary.
  3. We may also collect your personal information when you send us an email, SMS or telephone us
  4. In some circumstances personal information may also be collected from other sources. Often this is because it is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. This may include information from:
  • your guardian or responsible person
  • other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
  • your health fund, Medicare, or the Department of Veteran's Affairs (as necessary). 

Who do we share your personal information with?

We sometimes share your personal information:

  • with third parties who work with our practice for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or information technology providers – these third parties are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles and our practice privacy policy
  • with other healthcare providers
  • when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas)
  • when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
  • to assist in locating a missing person
  • to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
  • for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
  • when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. some diseases require mandatory notification)
  • during the course of providing medical services, through Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP), MyHealth Record/PCEHR system (e.g. via Shared Health Summary, Event Summary).

Only people that need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of providing medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, our practice will not share personal information with any third party without your consent. We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent. Our practice will not use your personal information for marketing any of our goods or services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt-out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our practice in writing.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

Your personal information will be stored at our practice as electronic records. Our practice has excellent physical security, electronic security and system back up procedures in place.

How can you access and correct your personal information at our Practice?

You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. Our practice acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing e.g. via email reception@boyupmedical.com.au and our practice will respond within a reasonable time (within a maximum of 30 days). A reasonable fee may apply. Our practice will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up-to-date. From time-to-time, we will ask you to verify your personal information held by our practice is correct and up-to-date. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to the practice manager e.g. via email reception@boyupmedical.com.au

SMS, Email and My Health Record

This practice may use SMS and email for appointment reminders, recalls and other reminders or medical services. Our practice may also upload Shared Health Summaries. If you do not consent to this, please advise our receptionist.

How can you lodge a privacy related complaint and how will the complaint be handled at our Practice?

We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing e.g. via email. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure within a maximum of 30 days. You must include your mailing address and contact number.

You may also contact the OAIC. Generally, the OAIC will require you to give them time to respond, before they will investigate. For further information, visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 336 002. Or you may contact the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office in Perth, ph. 1800 813 583.

The Professional Patient

A consult with a doctor is something you can prepare yourself for. It will increase the chance your consult will meet all your expectations. Here are 10 suggestions and if you like them you could try them:

  1. Before you enter the consulting room you should know
  • what you are going to ask and
  • what your expectations are.

Consider writing it down. If you only tell your doctor what your health problem is, your doctor will not necessarily know what you expect him or her to do about it.

  1. Think about why you go now to this doctor, with this health problem.
  2. Always be accurate. If you, for example, don’t take a certain medication, just say it and explain why. Don’t exaggerate or play down your health problem. Incorrect information can lead to an incorrect treatment.
  3. Always be reasonable in what you ask. Openly discuss your expectations but don’t demand things. Try to put yourself in your doctor’s shoes as you expect the doctor to imagine him or her in your shoes.
  4. Be responsible for your own health and try to make sure you know:
  • which medication you are taking or take the medication to your consult
  • which diseases you have had in the past and still have today
  • which drugs you have tried in the past and what the results of these were
  • for which substances you are allergic.

Try not to assume that the doctor knows everything already. Or think “it’s all in the computer anyway”. This is only partially true. For example, in the computer is registered which pills the doctor has prescribed. But this may not necessarily be the same as the pills the patient is taking.

  1. Tell the doctor about special things, even if the doctor doesn’t ask for it, e.g.
  • you would like to become pregnant
  • certain medications have given you side effects in the past
  • certain diseases run in your family
  • you’ve recently had a stay in a tropical area.
  1. Take someone with you. Two people hear more than one. The other person could for example make notes so you can concentrate on the conversation.
  2. If you have more than 1 question, tell the doctor this at the start of the consult. The doctor can then indicate if there is enough time to answer all the questions. You could consider asking the receptionist for a double consult.
  3. Check at the end of the consult if you have clearly understood the doctor. Tell the doctor in your own words what you think your problem is and what will be done about it. If this is incorrect the doctor can respond to it straight away.
  4. Think about the following: “The doctor is responsible if I don’t understand what he or she is saying. But I am responsible to tell the doctor if I don’t understand what he or she is saying”.