We do appreciate that at times, the unexpected occurs. Where your issue needs to be addressed with haste, please present yourself to the nearest Emergency Department.  

If an urgent issue is required to be addressed on the same day, please kindly give reception a call. Please advise reception that your issue is urgent and provide a short description as to why this is urgent. This will allow us to triage your request so that the most urgent issues can be addressed. 

Time slots to accommodate urgent requests are limited, but we will accommodate to the best of our ability.

If we are unable to accommodate, we will advise accordingly and provide an alternative solution. Apologies in advanced for the inconvenience.

We do apologise if there is no availability for an appointment. If the matter is urgent we may be able to accommodate as described in question 1. We can place you on a cancellation list and allocate you an appointment if one comes up. Please also advise reception regarding the nature of your appointment. 

If a slot becomes available, reception will contact you via your preferred method of communication (usually mobile phone). These appointments are secured on a “first come, first served” basis, so it would be handy if you keep your phone close. 

Describe the item or answer the question so that site visitors who are interested get more information. You can emphasize this text with bullets, italics or bold, and add links.If the clinic is closed and there is an issue to be raised, you can contact reception by phone on the next day we are opened or send us an email. Emails are only attended to during business hours on an intermittent basis. If you have an urgent medical issue, please  contact our after-hours deputizing service on 13 SICK (13 7425) or present to your closest Emergency Department. 

If you do seek medical attention after hours, kindly consider booking in a follow up appointment so that we can review the health episode for ongoing continuity of care.

Please present to reception at least 5-10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.

Bring your completed and signed Patient Registration Form and Patient Agreement Document and hand it to reception. If you are unable to print these out, a soft copy can be completed prior and sent to the clinic for printing on the day of your appointment.  

Alternatively, you may wish to complete the new patient registration form through Hotdoc (if available).

As part of the registration process, please bring your Medicare card if available, along with any concession cards you may carry (Pension Concession Card or Healthcare Card)

We will also be required to verify your identity. Accordingly, please bring along a form of photo identification (ie. driver’s license or passport) or 2 other documents that have your details on it (ie. bank card, covid vaccination certificate). Where you are unable to provide sufficient documents to prove your identity, we retain the absolute discretion to refuse your attendance. 

A warm welcome if you are coming in for the first time. New and returning patients, please check in with reception upon arrival. This step is crucial as it would let staff know of your attendance on premise. The doctor will not know of your attendance if you are not checked in.

After checking in and completing registration if need be, please have a seat in our waiting room. We anticipate a potential wait time of 10-20 minutes. Our sincerest apologies if we are running more than 20 minutes late. Please advise reception if there are time pressures on your part so we may be able to make special arrangements to accommodate. We will endeavour to keep you informed if there are unexpected delays.

As this is mainly an appointment only service, we will see patients in order of their appointment times. If you do arrive late for your appointment, your appointment will likely be truncated to a shorter duration. If time permits, it may be squeezed in but this may require a bit of a wait. Penalties may apply for late cancellation (1 hour before time of appointment), late rescheduling (1 hour before original time of appointment) or non-attendances.

During the first consultation, the doctor will ask you a few questions in regards to your demographic and basic medical history. It will be useful to have this information on hand as it helps set the pretext for future consultations. 

It would be useful to be organized and come in with a list of issues to discuss. Please prioritize the most important issue first. Usually, a standard consultation may allow us to cover 2-3 issues. Generally, the law of averages applies whereby some patients would need more time and some less. This has translated into a generally acceptable wait time within 10-20 minutes. As a gentle reminder, as much as we would like to cover all issues, additional time spent over and above the allocated time will impact on the next person waiting. Working together will make things smoother. Long consultations are triaged by need and may be available upon request.

Upon completion of the appointment, unless advised otherwise by the doctor, please proceed to reception to make payment and if required, for further assistance. 

As much as we would like to provide a comprehensive service, there may be some areas of service that we do not provide due to limitations in our skill set. If we are unable to fulfil your request for a particular service, we will provide advice, to the best of our knowledge, regarding alternatives that may meet your needs.

As we endeavour to grow the practice and attract further talent, we face the unfortunate prospect of disproportionate rising costs to remain viable. Therefore, it is with deepest regret that we have to transition away from the voluntary co-payment model to a private billing model. We thank you for your ongoing patronage and hope that despite the incremental cost, we can continue to maintain your expectations. 

The Patient Agreement Document helps you understand your roles and responsibilities regarding the services received at Life Stories Medical. It also allows you to understand further what we can offer as a service. This helps foster a stronger therapeutic relationship. 

Unfortunately, breaches to the Patient Agreement Document may constitute a breakdown in the therapeutic relationship. This will impact on how we deliver our service. 

We do apologize if we are unable to meet your expectations at any point of our service delivery. At Life Stories Medical, we are committed not only to making things right but making things better. If there are any comments, complaints or perhaps even the odd compliment, please let us know over the phone or drop us an email. 

We want to serve you better!