Our Town Doctors Surgery

Our surgery currently offers three highly skilled doctors so you can have the doctor of your choice.

Dr Sumana Chadalavada
Dr Peter Bilton
Dr Melanie Yeh

Nurse

We have 5 nurses, who are available for immunisation, vaccinations, weighing babies, 4 year-old health assessments, BP monitoring, health assessments, ECGs and many other health concerns.

Management

Jo Parkinson Practice Manager
Michal Kulczynski Office Manager

Admin Staff

Nicole, Evette, Lisa, Tiah, Codie, Angela, Belinda, Jayde, Simone, Sharyn, Kim are always available to help.

OPENING HOURS

Monday to Friday:
• 8.30am to 12.30pm
• 1.30pm to 4.30pm
Saturday:
• 8.30am to 12.30pm
Sunday: Closed

AFTER-HOURS

If you have an emergency need for medical care you should always call 000 or visit your nearest emergency department.

For less urgent after-hours service calls:

After Hours Medical Service (Newcastle) on 49577778 or mobile medic service on 49436666 or Health Direct a 24 hour Health help line on 1800 022 222.

FEES and PAYMENT

We are a mixed billing practice. Pensioners and Healthcare Card Holders are bulk billed.

Other patients are charged a private fee. However, most face-to-face consultations are subject to a Medicare rebate, meaning that you will receive a refund for some of your payment.

Some services we provide do not attract a Medicare rebate and these are included on our fees list which is available at reception. It shows the fee, the Medicare rebate and out of pocket expenses. Fees are payable at the time of consultation and can be made by cash, EFTPOS or credit card (VISA or Mastercard).

APPOINTMENTS

For appointments please call between 8am and 6pm weekdays. Appointments are made through our Blackbutt surgery.

You may also book on-line via our website or by downloading the Appointuit app for smart phones.

If you think you will need more time please let us know at the time of making your appointment. You will need more time with the doctor if it is the first visit, to discuss multiple problems, for a complex health issue, for mental health assessments or for procedures and pap smears. Making the right appointment for your needs will help your GP run on time.

We hold drop in clinics every day during the following times:

8.30am to 10.30am
1.30pm to 3.30pm

While we endeavour to run on time, it is not always possible. In the interests of good patient care we sometimes have to extend consulting times. Our practice is proud of the services we are able to provide to you. We respect our patients’ needs and hence try to accommodate as much as possible to your individual needs. In return, we would like you to respect our clinical and reception staff by being considerate and understanding when acutely sick patients or genuine emergencies are fitted in and unavoidable delays occur. Please remember that if your doctor is running late it is always because someone needed his or her extended care and attention. Please do not get upset with our reception staff or your clinician. If our doctors are running late we will let you know and give you the option of rescheduling your appointment time if you are unable to wait.

If you arrive for your appointment and you think you require urgent assistance (due to chest pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness or severe pain) or you believe you may be contagious (eg flu symptoms, gastro, child with a rash), please advise our reception staff immediately so we can assist you.

Please be aware that if you come late to your appointment, you will be seen for what remains of your appointment time. If you come after your appointment time has finished, you may not be seen and your appointment will need to be rescheduled.


HOME VISITS

Home visits are available to registered patients of the practice by discretion of the doctors. Please call reception to arrange. Home visits are conducted during normal surgery opening hours.

UNABLE TO ATTEND YOUR APPOINTMENT?

If you will not be able to make it to your booked appointment, please let us know as soon as possible by calling the practice. This allows us to offer your appointment to another patient. Failure to cancel within 4 hours of the booked time may result in a $40 non-cancellation fee.

WHY ACCREDITATION?

We are registered for accreditation and will become an accredited practice in 2016. This means we are committed to continual quality improvement of our practice and our care to our patients. There will be times you may wonder why we do things certain ways. There are some strict guidelines we have to follow which are set by the Royal College of GPs. We are tested on these every 3 years. We are continually updating the way we operate following these guidelines. We are proud to be accredited and are committed to continual improvement of our practice and our endeavour to a high quality of patient care.




WHY DO WE IDENTIFY YOU?

Did you know that we now have to identify you
3 ways every time you make an appointment
and come into the practice? Even if we know you well.
We will ask you your name, your date of birth and
your address. Why? Because we want to ensure we are providing the best possible care to the right patient.

SERVICES AVAILABLE

As well as routine consultations, the following services are available:
• Check-ups
• Family planning
• Pap smears
• Pregnancy tests
• Ante-natal care, Obstetrics
• Counselling
• Immunisation: children, adults
• Excision clinic: stitching cuts, removing moles, skin cancers
• Liquid nitrogen 'freezing' therapy for sunspots and warts
• 75-year and older health checks
• Care Plans
• Weight control, Nutrition advice
• Stop smoking assistance
• Dermatoscopy: skin checks
• Implanon insertion
• Warfarin monitoring by finger prick test on-site
• On-site pathology

YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION

The privacy of your health is important to us. All staff, including administration staff, respect your privacy and keep your health information confidential at all times. Your medical record is a confidential document and as such it is the policy of this practice to maintain the security of your personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff. If you need to request a copy of your health information please see any of our staff and they will help you.



TELEPHONE CALLS and COMMUNICATION

Generally your GP will be unable to speak with you while consulting with other patients. Your phone query will be handled by our receptionists who will pass the message onto the Doctor or Nurse on duty. We aim to return phone calls before the end of business the same day.

Ozdocs online, the secure e-mail messaging system, is a hassle free way to contact your doctor. Referrals and script requests can be organised through this service. See reception on how to register.

Please do not use standard email for medical complaints or requests.

TEST RESULTS

During your appointment your doctor will advise you to either make a follow-up appointment or ring the surgery for your results. You may also request a copy to be sent to you or you can use our secure online portal, Ozdocs online, to receive your results. There is a $10 fee for this. Please see reception to register.

If your results are normal, you will not be contacted by us. If your doctor would like to discuss your results with you we will generally ring you to make an appointment.

PATIENT’S RESPONSIBILITIES TO OUR PRACTICE

Attending this practice involves a relationship with all staff. In order to maintain a healthy relationship both parties must respect each other and have a mutual trust.

Our practice tries very hard to provide our patients with a high quality of care and we aim to continually improve our systems and services to help us do it better to care for you.

We will gladly listen to your suggestions and complaints and follow them up constructively, as this helps us improve.

However, we will not tolerate the following behaviours from our patients:

• violence or threatening behaviour towards any staff member
• yelling at our staff
• verbal abuse or aggressive behaviour to our staff on the telephone
• verbal or physical abuse towards our staff
• angry behaviour towards our staff
• continue to not follow Dr’s treatment advice
• continue to fail to pay your bills

We are lucky at Blackbutt in that most of our patients do not behave like this and for that we thank you.

FEEDBACK

Although we try our best it is inevitable that from time to time a patient may have a complaint about our services. This feedback is very important to us as it alerts us to problems with the service we are providing and drives us to find a better way of doing things.

If you have any suggestions, ideas or would like to make a complaint you can either:

• Speak with your GP or nurse
• Let our reception staff know
• Speak with our Practice Manager
• Write us a letter
• Place your suggestion into our suggestion box on the reception desk

However, if you would like to take your complaint further and wish to speak to an external body, you can contact:

NSW Health Care Complaints Commission
Locked Mail Bag 18
Strawberry Hills 2012
telephone 1800 043 159

WANT MORE INFORMATION
Please visit our other practice website:
Website: www.blackbuttdoctors.com.au

You may also visit our Blackbutt Doctors Surgery Facebook page. Alternatively please feel free to speak with any one of our friendly staff. Thank you.