Appointment and Fees

Appointments

Consultations are by appointment only. We are committed to continuity of care and therefore we encourage you to see the same doctor, and will make every effort to achieve this for you. If it is not possible, the receptionist will recommend alternatives.

The majority of our available appointments can be booked online. All doctors reserve appointments daily for emergencies. If you cannot find an ideal appointment online, please call us on 9700 2281 and we will do our best to help.

Urgent Consultations

Urgent consultations can usually be accommodated because of our flexible appointment system. It is a practice policy that where possible, no child will be refused a same day appointment. Please call early in the day to assist us with allocating time to see your child. Alternatively, appointments can be booked 24/7 online.

Longer Appointments

Some consultations—for example insurance medicals, pre-employment medicals, female health checks (including Pap. Tests), surgical procedures, travel health, mental health care plans – require a longer consultation. Please inform the receptionist when you are making an appointment for these so enough time can be allocated. This also reduces waiting times for other patients.

All patients attending for their first antenatal visit will need a longer appointment.

Fees

Joseph Banks Medical Centre is private billing clinic where there are fees to see our doctors. Payment is to be made on the day of the consultation. For patients Medicare rebates, if they have an eftpos or debit card we can rebate them straight away on their card. Alternatively we can send your claim through Medicare online where they will deposit the rebate into your allocated bank account. This can take up to 48 hours.
Patients without a Medicare card are charged at our full private fee.

For Pension Concession and Health Care Card holders there is annual administration fee of $40. Once this has been paid, patients are then eligible to be bulk billed for the next 12 months. The $40 admin fee is to be paid as an out of pocket fee on the item number that is charged on the day. The admin fee is capped for families (parents and children) at $80.

For more information please see this brochure: Concession Card Fee Policy

Please be aware that some consultations and procedures are not covered by Medicare and will not attract a Medicare rebate. These include: insurance forms, employment medicals and Work Cover Certificates. Billings for these items will be time-based and extended appointments are usually required.

Procedures performed in our well-equipped theatre will incur an extra charge to cover the cost of medical supplies, nursing assisting and cleaning. Concession patients will be charged a reduced fee, which will leave a gap.

Missed Appointment fee: A fee may be charged for patients who repeatedly fail to attend their appointment, and do not cancel within a reasonable time.

A list of our current fees is available in our Practice Information Sheet

If you are experiencing financial hardship, please speak to your doctor who may review his/her fees. The fee your doctor charges is at his/her discretion.