Practice Policies

In a medical emergency, please call 000 and ask for an ambulance.

If you require medical assistance, our closest hospital is Sunshine Hospital located at 176 Furlong Road, St Albans. Phone number (03) 8345 1333.

For out of hours medical services, please call Doctor Doctor on 13 26 60 or visit www.doctordoctor.com.au

For out of hours medical advice, please call the After Hours GP Helpline on 1800 0220 222 or visit https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/after-hours-gp-helpline

For good quality care, all patients are required to make an appointment to see a doctor for all test results (preferably where possible, the requesting doctor). To ensure strict patient confidentiality and compliance with the National Privacy Act is maintained, pathology and radiology results will not be given over the telephone by our reception and/or nursing staff.

It is the patient's responsibility to follow up on their test results, and we encourage patients to be proactive in their healthcare and book an appointment for results before leaving the clinic.

We will make every effort to contact patients with abnormal results. However, it cannot be assumed that test results are normal if there is no contact from our clinic. Patients should be aware of the potential seriousness of not attending follow-up appointments, recalls, or investigations.

Unless encryption is used, email is not a secure platform for communicating sensitive information such as test results. To protect your privacy, you should never email personal information such as your birth date, address, Medicare card number, etc. to our clinic.

Please ensure your contact details are kept up to date with reception.

We understand situations may arise where you are unable to attend your scheduled appointment. If this occurs, we respectfully ask you to provide a minimum of 2 hours notice before your appointment by phoning our practice. We will happily reschedule your appointment.

The doctors want to be available for your needs and the needs of all their patients. When a patient does not attend a scheduled appointment, another patient loses the opportunity to be seen.

Thank you for being a valued patient and for your cooperation with this policy.

Patient privacy is considered very important in our practice. We respect the rights of all patients, and we ensure all personal and patient health information remains private and confidential. Personal health information refers to information about your health, medical history, past and future medical care.

We implement best practices and industry standards with respect to information security. At our practice, we take all reasonable steps to ensure data security, including but not limited to:

• physical security of hardware and software;
• web servers connected to the internet are
  protected by appropriate hardware /
  software firewalls;
• computers are protected by antivirus
  software that is installed and updated
  regularly; and
• servers are backed-up and checked at
  frequent intervals, and are stored in a secure
  environment.

We recognise that your privacy is very important to you and we are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and in accordance with other applicable privacy laws.

Please click here to read our full Privacy Policy.

We aim to deliver a high quality, caring, and family-friendly GP service to the community. If you have any concerns or suggestions for improvement, please contact our practice in person, via phone or email gps@westcare.net.au. Alternatively, speak with your treating doctor.

We believe problems are best dealt with through our practice and encourage you to contact us if you are concerned about any aspect of our service. We will aim to resolve them quickly and fairly.

We will strive to resolve your concerns in accordance with our resolution procedure. However, if you would prefer, you can contact the Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner in Victoria via https://hcc.vic.gov.au/ or on 1300 582 113.

All consumers have the right to safe and high-quality health care. The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights (the Charter) describes what consumers, or someone they care for, can expect when receiving health care. There are seven rights in the Charter. They apply to everyone and everywhere health care is provided in Australia.

Please click here to download a copy of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights brochure.