FAQs
Appointment times can vary dependent on many issues. Appointments for new patients may take from 30 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the medical condition. It is therefore important that you provide reception with information regarding your medical condition when making the appointment, or preferably ensure that a referral has been forwarded so you can be booked for the relevant timeframe.
Review appointments will usually take approximately 15-20 minutes.
Please allow ample time for your appointment with both your parking and any plans/appointments you may make following your appointment in this office (see following question on “Do the doctors run on time”).
While every effort is made by the doctors to run on time, this is often not possible for many reasons including phone calls from other specialists and patients requiring additional time during their consultation. All the doctors are independent consultants who are also actively involved in hospital inpatient care that may require their attention throughout the day. You can assist this process by ensuring you arrive on time unless you have confirmed a later attendance with reception; however, while the reception staff can give you approximate indications if a doctor is running late, they are not privy to the details of each consultation or what interruptions the doctor may receive and therefore may not be able to provide an accurate timeline of when the doctor will see each patient.
To assist communication, the reception staff will also do their best to advise you in advance of significant delays via SMS message or you can ring the office for updates. Please allow ample time for your appointment with both your parking and any plans/appointments you may make following your appointment in this office.
Brisbane Diabetes Endocrinology is a private practice and therefore has private billing with a gap not covered by Medicare or your health fund. For more information regarding current fees, please contact reception.
Your consultation fee pays for your session time with an endocrinologist or allied health professional with extensive expert experience and training. In addition, the doctors and allied health professionals perform out-of-consultation duties such as:
- Consultation preparation/pre-reading, record keeping, writing letters to GPs and other treating providers
- Follow up on pathology and radiology results
- Provide urgent phone advice and other correspondence for patients both in and out of hospital. This includes advice or communication with other treating specialists and GPs both during office hours and the privilege of contact outside office hours for emergencies, particularly hospital admissions
- Administrative and other professional duties, for which the doctors and allied health professionals do not receive extra payment.
The consultation fee provides for the time for these additional duties to ensure you receive a professional comprehensive and ethical service. The doctors and allied health professionals who partner with Brisbane Diabetes Endocrinology are private independent practitioners who personally incur operational costs for all appointments (including cancellations); fund their own mandatory professional training, supervision and resources; and are responsible for their own insurances, superannuation and leave.
The doctors and allied health professionals in this practice are not paid employees and do not receive any funding from government agencies. They incur lost income when patients cancel or do not attend appointments. Consequently, this office relies on the timely payment of patient fees so they may continue to provide comprehensive patient care.
Yes, reception can electronically send your account to Medicare as long as you have a valid referral and have your bank account details registered with Medicare. For more information regarding registering your bank account details with Medicare contact your nearest Medicare office or see https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/subjects/medicare-services#registerbankdetails
Private health insurance only covers medical specialists when you are an inpatient in hospital (see following question on “Gap Cover”). Outpatient services, such as attending private rooms of specialists are not covered by your health insurance – for further information, contact your health fund. The only exception to this is for patients covered under an international insurance who do not have Medicare – in this instance full payment is required at time of consultation and you will need to follow up any relevant rebate from your insurance provider.
Gap Cover providers as listed by private health funds are only valid if you are being seen by a specialist as an inpatient in a fund participating hospital. Should you be admitted, the doctors are registered Gap Cover providers and in most cases will accept this as full payment and bill your health fund directly.
It is a Medicare requirement to have a valid referral for all visits to obtain a rebate from Medicare for specialist consultations. Referrals from a GP are valid for 12 months and referrals from another specialist are valid for 3 months only. While reception will make every effort to let you know when you require a new referral for your appointment], obtaining a referral is your own responsibility.
Referrals also provide information to your doctor about your medical condition(s), history, medications, previous tests etc and are therefore required to ensure continuity of care between your health providers.
Indefinite referrals – please note, the doctors will accept indefinite referrals ONLY if you are attending the practice regularly (i.e. every 3-9 months). Patients that are only required to attend annually (approximately) or less often require a new referral for EVERY attendance. Again, this is to ensure continuity of care between your GP and specialist and that all relevant medical information is kept up-to-date.
Video consultations may be possible for follow up appointments depending on the nature of the problem and if you meet the Medicare specifications on distance out of the city (http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/locator). For a first visit, the consultation must be face-to-face.
A video consultation for follow up appointments will be at the discretion of your treating doctor.
No. The specialists at this practice are registered with the Medical Board of Australia and have a responsibility to recommend treatment on the best evidence-based practice and established research. Unfortunately, naturopathic therapies do not generally fall in this category.
There is no parking at Alexandra House, but metered parking is available on the surrounding streets. Otherwise, the closest car park is the Wilson car park located in Bartley Street (off Wickham Terrace) behind the Watkins Medical Centre (located at 225 Wickham Terrace). Alternatively, Brisbane City Council Wickham Terrace Car Park is also close with vehicle entrance via Turbot Street and via Creek Street into Wickham Terrace.
Central Station is a nearby train station, approximately 250m away. Access Wickham Terrace via the subway tunnel or street access.
The free Spring Hill Loop bus offered by Brisbane City Council runs regularly from the Brisbane City area to Wickham Terrace with stop 134 – Watkins Medical Centre being the closest stop.
See the Translink website for details on hop on/hop off locations and trip timing:
https://jp.translink.com.au/plan-your-journey/timetables/bus/t/30