1. Telephone & Video (Telehealth) Consultations
Telephone and Video medical consultations are available through Skype or Zoom, and may be booked:
- by calling reception on 8209 3999, or
- online through this website, or
- directly through the online HotDoc booking service
Be aware that taking an adequate history is more limited, and no physical examination is possible. Our doctors also call you to discuss routine test results or to give brief explanations of treatment plans. Should your doctor decide a face-to-face consultation & physical examination is necessary, you will be asked to make an appointment to attend the practice.
Standard time-based medicare rebates apply to short Telephone & most Video Consultations and:
- help reduce cross-infective risk
- save travel time
- improve access to your GP
- require you to be in a private area to discuss confidential matters (whether at home, office, or on holiday)
- work well for mental health advice, where a physical examination is not necessary
- allow you to consult your doctor from anywhere in Australia (please get the Sydney time zone right – Australian Eastern Standard Time)
- are less useful for accurate diagnosis and treatment compared with a Face-to-Face physical consultation
- sometimes a follow-up Face-to-Face consultation will ALSO be required
2. Procedure For Video Consultations
- You must first be a registered patient of this medical practice. When you register, please inform reception of your Skype or Zoom account name/code, so your GP can link with you.
- You will need to upload the Skype or Zoom communication software or App to your computer, laptop, or telephone from the internet – to participate in a Video Consultation. This is a simple free process that takes only a few minutes, and only has to be done once.
- Your doctor will call you (not the other way around please) at your booked consultation time, or as close as possible to this. This is because your doctor at all other times, is consulting with another patient.
- Telephone reception on 8209 3999 or click on the Video Medical Consultation Tab on the right of this website, to request a Video Consultation Booking.
- Select the length of time required for the consultation. Be aware that when the length of time you have selected is up, your video link may cut off, as another patient will be waiting to also consult your doctor. Please ensure you book sufficient time for your query
- The consultation fee will be charged to your credit card after the appointment, (which by consent should be kept encrypted on your medical record), and a receipt is emailed to you. We do not accept telephone nor video consultations without a credit card record.
- Ensure your device is switched on and Skype or Zoom is active 5 minutes before your booked appointment time, so that your doctor can contact you. If you are not contactable at the pre-booked time, the doctor will continue seeing other patients, and you will need to telephone reception to reschedule your appointment.
- If your doctor is briefly delayed with another patient, do not switch off Skype or Zoom, as he/she will contact you as soon as possible. If a longer delay is likely because your doctor is managing an emergency, and the appointment needs to be rescheduled, our reception team will call you directly to resolve the matter. For this reason, a video consultation should never be booked by/for a critically ill patient, nor by a new patient. It is solely for routine non-urgent ongoing medical advice.
Please let us have any feedback through our website Feedback page (click here), so we continue to improve our Telephone & Video Consultation services
