Patient Information

Practice Code of Ethics
This practice is committed to providing comprehensive medical care to all members of our community. All patients’ consultations and medical records are kept strictly confidential. Our doctors have a commitment to rural general practice and are actively involved in updating their skills, including spending one week each year on post-graduate studies.

Personal Health information
The Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) are a set of privacy principles that regulate the handling of personal information by both Australian Government Agencies and businesses.

The 13 APP’s are:

1. Open and Transparent Management of Personal Information
2. Anonymity and Pseudonymity
3. Collection of Solicited Personal Information
4. Dealing with Unsolicited Personal Information
5. Notification of the Collection of Personal Information
6. Use or Disclosure of Personal Information
7. Direct Marketing
8. Cross Border Disclosure of Personal Information
9. Adoption, Use or Disclosure of Government Related Identifiers
10. Quality of Personal Information
11. Security of Personal Information
12. Access to Personal Information
13. Correction of Personal Information

We run an appointment system and patients should contact reception staff to arrange all appointments. If you arrive without having a booked appointment you must expect to wait or return another day. However in cases of emergency patients will be seen immediately. An Emergency Doctor is on call daily for patients if it is urgent for that day.

Longer Appointments

The duration of a standard appointment is 15minutes. If you think a longer time is required, a prolonged consultation can be arranged on request.

Prolonged consultations are required for:

• “general check-ups”
• insurance and employment medicals
• Mental health problems
• Heavy vehicle license examinations
• If you have multiple issues you wish to discuss with your GP
• Post-natal visits require 3 appointments between mother and baby.

One Person Only Appointment

Only one person can be seen in any one appointment time. Separate appointments are required for other family members. If you ask the doctor to see another family member you will forcing others to wait longer for their appointment.

Waiting times in the surgery

There are many reasons why sometimes you may wait for your appointment. Our doctors cover all admissions and emergencies at the Riverland General Hospital, attend major trauma patients, and provide 24hour cover. Did you know that 4 doctors are required at a caesarean section to deliver a baby? This could happen during consulting hours. A patient with a heart attack can keep the doctor at the hospital for 1-2 hours. Please try to be understanding of the difficulties in keeping to schedule.

Correct bookings for longer appointments by patients and not arriving late for your appointment also prevents a back log in the waiting room. You can ring before your appointment to check if the doctor is on time, or ask on arrival. We will try to keep you informed about delays.

Online Appointments

You can now use our website or download our App to book appointments online. For all queries please speak to reception staff.

If you require an interpreter service for your consultation, please advise staff at the time of booking your appointment. Medicare provides an interpreting service which is free to patients. There is also an Ethnic Link Service (8580 4161) which caters for Greek, Italian, Turkish, Croatian and Punjabi patients. A longer appointment is required for this service.

Medical Students –

From time to time you may be asked for your permission to have a medical student sit in on your consultation. Medical Students from Flinders University spend the whole of their third year studying in our clinic. At the end of the year they sit their final exams, so it is a vital part of their training. They work with our senior doctors assisting with consultations and procedures, as well as helping manage hospital patients.

Observing Doctor –

Berri Medical Clinic is a teaching practice for registrars of GPEx Training program for General Practitioners and for International Medical Graduates. This means from time to time you may be asked for your permission to have an observing doctor sit in at your consultation. This doctor may be a student or a supervisor observing your doctor.

Consent for a third party

Our practice obtains and documents the prior consent of a patient when the practice introduces a third party to the consultation. Before the consultation commences, the practice will ask the patient if they consent to having a third party present during the consultation. This includes for spouses, friends, parents, carers, guardians, chaperones, interpreters, case workers etc.

If you would like to provide feedback about any aspect of the service you have received at the clinic, please speak to management or put your complaint in writing. You may also choose to use the suggestion box on the front counter.

 

After Hours advice can be received by phoning Health Direct which provides medical advice over the telephone on 1800 022 222 or attend River Docs Emergency Department located at the Riverland General Hospital, Berri.

When calling for test results or any other general enquiries, please call the surgery after 10.30am daily.

When calling for test results please call the surgery after 10.30am daily. On occasion you may be asked to return to the clinic to discuss your results. Our nurses will contact you should this be needed. Please be aware that some test results may take and extended time to return.

X-Rays and Scans –

If you have x-rays or scans performed through Riverland Medical Imaging please be aware that they no longer print scans except under specific circumstances.

If you have your scans done in Adelaide or Mildura, you should confirm if your results will be posted or faxed, or if you need to wait and collect them before leaving.

The Berri Medical Clinic can now send recalls and clinical reminders via SMS for things like–
Pap smears, Blood tests, Skin Checks, Diabetes, Asthma Clinics.

If you would prefer to receive a letter instead of an SMS you must inform our staff otherwise a sms will be automatically sent to your mobile number when your recall is due. If you are due to have a recall and have not received a reminder, then we advise you to check with us.

In the interests of good patient care, it is best to discuss you issues with your doctor during a consultation. When this is not practical, it may be possible to speak to your doctor on the phone. If your doctor is not able to speak to you at the time of your call, you can speak to a nurse who may be able to assist you. Alternatively we will email your request to the doctor and ask if they are able to call back at a time when they are free. Please understand that we try to keep consultation interruptions to a minimum.

The Berri Medical Clinic prefers not to communicate with patients via email. We recommend that patients contact us via phone or in person to discuss all matters. Our email address is a NO REPLY EMAIL.

Home visits are usually performed by the duty doctor of the day, unless otherwise arranged. In most cases, earlier attention will be received if you attend the surgery. Home visits can be discussed with the Practice coordinator who will speak to your doctor and determine arrangements need to be made on your behalf.

Monday – 8.00am to 8.00pm
Tuesday – 8.00am to 8.00pm
Wednesday – 8.00am to 8.00pm
Thursday – 8.00am to 8.00pm
Friday – 8.00am to 8.00pm
Saturday – 8.00am to 6.00pm
Sunday – Closed
Public Holidays – Closed

Please note our phone lines are closed from 7.30pm on weekdays.

Appointments can be made by phoning our clinic – 08 8582 2855 or using Hotdocs for online bookings.

Please inform staff at the time of your booking if you will need a longer appointment.

Emergencies may present to the Riverland General Hospital at any time.

Call 000 if you need immediate ambulance emergency help.