Communications Policy
Our practice endeavours to provide patients with access to timely advice or information regarding their clinical care. This communication may occur through the following channels:
Face-to-face (in person)
This can be via consultation with your GP or allied health professional, interactions with the practice nurse, or by communication to admin staff members i.e. our receptionists or Practice Manager.
Telephone
Patients can phone the practice on (02) 97895955 between the hours of 9am – 5pm, Monday through Friday and speak to one of our receptionists. During this first point of contact, receptionists will triage your call in to ensure that any urgent matters are dealt with appropriately and in a timely manner. Your call may be transferred to the practice nurse to determine the urgency and most appropriate cause of action for your concern.
Phone calls requested to speak to the GP without an appointment will normally not be put through at the time of call. This is to minimise interruptions to consultations that might be taking place at the time of your call. Depending on the circumstance, a receptionist will book an appointment for you to speak to your doctor via Telehealth, or in certain cases, send the doctor a message explaining the reason for your call. Doctors will only take phone calls if time permits during their schedule.
Facsimile (fax)
Fax is generally used for clinical correspondence only. All clinical correspondence received via fax is imported into the associated patient’s file. These are then reviewed by the addressee doctor and managed as appropriate. Any urgent faxes that are received are handed to the doctor immediately. If the doctor is away, they are immediately review by an available GP.
All non-patient related faxes received are passed on to a relevant team member.
Email is not a secure communication platform and therefore, Southern Doctors Clinic does not send any clinical and confidential information via email without patient consent. Whilst we attempt to keep your information secure, it is important that patients are aware of the risks associated with email communication. Information could potentially be compromised and accessed by someone other than the intended recipient.
As email is not a secure communication platform, it is important that patients are aware of the risks associated with email communication. Although we attempt to keep private and confidential information secure, information sent via email may be compromised and accessed by someone who is not the intended recipient. Due to this, we will not send any personal information via email without patient consent. Patients must also be aware that any information they send to Southern Doctors Clinic via email is not secure. Patients who communicate through email do so at their own risk.
We intend to respond to email within 2 business days. Our emails are checked on a regular basis but they are not consistently monitored. We suggest that any urgent requests are not sent via email but rather discussed with a receptionist via telephone.
SMS
SMS messages are used at our clinic for the following reasons:
Appointment reminders: Our online appointment system, HotDoc, will send an appointment reminder to patients with a pre-existing appointment the day before their appointment.
Reminders: You may receive reminders for clinical issues that your doctor would like you to follow-up on. These may include matters such as cervical screening, care plans, blood tests and immunisations.
Recalls: You may receive an SMS asking you to book a follow-up appointment with your doctor regarding recent test results. Privacy Act 1988, and does not contain any sensitive or confidential patient information.
If you wish to opt-out of SMS communication, please speak to our reception staff for assistance.
Post
Letters are used for patients who do not use, or who decide to opt-out of electronic communications. In these circumstances, reminders and recalls are sent by post to the patients residential or postal address.
Incoming mail is received daily. Letters that are patient related are scanned and imported into the patient’s file. These letters are then reviewed by the doctor and actioned as appropriate. All non-patient letters are forwarded to the appropriate team member.
Website
The practice’s website is regularly updated with new information relating to current events and changes at the practice. You are able to find information on opening hours, policies, services, and book an appointment through our website.