Practice Policies
Privacy Policy
At Cairns Doctors, we collect personal information from our patients for the primary purpose of providing quality health care services. Our Doctors require you to provide your personal details and a full medical history so that they may properly assess, diagnose, treat and be proactive in your health care needs and any of your Health issues.
In accord with the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000, all information collected at Cairns Doctors is treated as ‘sensitive information’. To protect your privacy, this Practice operates strictly in accord with the Act.
All our Doctors and Staff here at Cairns Doctors are trained to handle your personal information discreetly and privately. We also engage in a range of security initiatives to protect your information from loss or misuse.
There may be serious repercussions if we do not know who you are, how to contact you or be able to contact you in a timely manner. Withholding personal health information from your GP or others involved in your health care may out your life or health at risk.
Health providers involved in your treatment and care may receive selected information from your personal health record. These include pathology, hospital, radiology and specialist services.
If you wish to access your personal information you are welcome to discuss this with your treating doctor. Should you require a copy of your personal information, it is usually available within 30 days and nominal charges may apply.
Results Recall Policy
Please be aware that as per our Practice Policy, test results cannot be discussed over the phone. Reception and Nursing staff do not have appropriate access to view your medical records and discuss your clinical results.
If your results require further discussion, we will contact you directly. Results are usually returned to us 48-72 hours after the sample has been taken.
If you would still like to speak to your GP and you have not received a call within a week of your test, you are welcome to book an appointment at www.cairns-doctors.com.au/appointments.
DNA Policy
We encourage our patients to call us and let us know if they cannot attend their appointment. Our team will work with the patient to reschedule appointments or help them attend their appointment (e.g. helping them to book a taxi or arranging an interpreter). However, patients that habitually miss their appointments have a negative affect for our medical centre.
Our practice works on an appointment basis, therefore:
- The missed appointment slot can deprive another patient from seeing their doctor earlier
- Our doctors and staff spend extra time chasing up missed appointments
- Important conversations concerning the missed patient’s health are lost
SMS reminders
We send SMS appointment reminders the day before their appointment, therefore we encourage patients to call us as early as possible to cancel or reschedule. This service is a courtesy only and not receiving an SMS reminder is not a valid reason to miss the appointment. It is the patient’s responsibility to be aware of their appointment details, and to arrive on time or reschedule with sufficient notice.
DNA Fees
We charge a fee of $25 for a standard consultation (10-15min) and $50 for a long consultation (30mins) or $75 for an extra-long consultation (>30mins) for an appointment that is not attended or not cancelled within 2 hours of the appointment time.
Situations where a DNA fee applies is at the discretion of the doctor or management and will consider the inconvenience to other patients and costs incurred by the practice due to your non-attendance. We understand that things can change, and the practice will take into account the reason given by patients. However repeated offences are unacceptable.
Patients who incur fees will be responsible for these fees. You cannot receive a Medicare rebate for DNA fees.
Cairns Doctors reserves the right to request these fees to be paid in full before another appointment can be made. You may also be limited in the ways you can book in the future for repeat, serious offenders. (e.g. not able to book online).
Email Policy
Cairns Doctors on Barr St do not send any confidential information via email unless written and verbal consent is gained from the patient, accepting liability of the lack of confidentiality.
If you require your medical records, it is recommended you make and appointment with your GP. If you are unable to attend the practice, we can send an encrypted copy of your record to your new practice provided we have received a signed consent form from them with three patient identifiers (name, date of birth, current address etc).
Telephone Policy
Cairns Doctors on Barr St currently do not offer telehealth consultations with Medicare rebates to patients (unless they qualify for the COVID-19 Telehealth Testing – call 07 4242 5300 for more information).
Telephone or Skype consultation are only available if previously agreed upon by your regular Cairns Doctors on Barr St GP. The GPs at our practice do not take phone calls during their consulting hours and can be contacted at info@cairns-doctors.com.au where they will respond to you at their earliest convenience. Please remember to include your name, date of birth, current address and current phone number.
Online Prescriptions
Only some of our GPs will provide prescriptions without a consultation. Please be aware this service is only available for their long term patients with recurring prescriptions who do not require a review. To view which GPs offer this service please CLICK HERE.
Otherwise please CLICK HERE to make an appointment with your GP.
Quality Assurance
Cairns Doctors prides itself on providing Doctors of the highest Standard with a particular interest or training in Specialised Health issues, this ensures that we can offer you the best of care every time.
Unlike most other General Medical Centres we won’t rush you out the door. At Cairns Doctors, we go to every effort to provide the service, time and care that you expect to have from your Doctor.
We welcome any comments or suggestions so please feel free to discuss these directly with any of our friendly Doctors or staff.
Walk-in Clinic
Please note that our Walk-in Clinic is CLOSED until further notice. Please call to book an appointment.
Mask Policy
The safety of our patients and staff are paramount, especially when it comes to COVID-19.
As a private practice, we are following Public Health advice and following the traffic light system. When Public Health have “AMBER” or “RED” light in place, our face mask policy will apply and must be worn by staff AND patients whilst inside the clinic. We have a COVID Safety Plan in action, and in order to maintain our infection control policies and protect patients and staff who enter our clinic, we ask that face-fitting masks are worn inside.
If patients have an exemption and require an appointment, we have alternative options whilst being able to uphold our policy and keep everyone safe and well. We also ask that those who choose not to wear a mask to remain outside the clinic and call reception to discuss options.
So that we can accommodate patients unable to wear a mask at the practice, and address the risk that unmasked patients pose to staff / other patients / other practice attendees, this will be our policy going forwards in such circumstances:
- If a consultation can be conducted by tele-health, we will aim to facilitate this. Alternatively, the face-to-face appointment will be postponed until the mask mandate has been lifted.
- If a patient is able to provide a legitimate exemption, we will adjust the consultations to minimise the risk of cross transmission to staff and other patients, which may mean that consultations are only offered at the beginning or end of consultation periods, and with available staff where the consultation does not pose a risk to them. Patients will be offered to wait in the isolation room to minimise the exposure to staff and patients, and must be completely asymptomatic. This will be reviewed and implemented on a case-to-case basis and only once we receive doctor’s approval.
- We will need the patient to confirm that they have no respiratory symptoms (cough / fever / runny nose / muscle aches and pains / phlegm) and confirm that they have not travelled to a Covid hotspot or been in contact with a confirmed or suspected Covid-positive person, before the patient attends. If patients have such symptoms or contacts, they will likely not be able to attend the practice in person, and review in an appropriate facility (e.g. hospital ED) may need to be arranged.
Please understand that this risk management approach is based on the risks posed by persons attending the practice who are not prepared to wear a mask, not because of any underlying illness that the person might have. Our approach to minimise face-to-face contact between people unable to wear a mask and others at the practice remains the same. Our policy does not require a patient to disclose why they are unable to wear a mask. Our approach aligns with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s COVID-19 infection prevention and control risk management, particularly transmission based precautions.