Bulk Billing
Samford Doctors Surgery is a bulk billing practice. We prefer that patients do not pay for their healthcare and therefore all Medicare cardholders are bulk billed.
This means you do not have to pay for your consultation as long as you have a valid Medicare card. We will claim the Medicare rebate for your consultation directly from Medicare instead.
Appointments
In order for us to keep providing you with this free access to the doctor we need to be efficient with our use of the doctor’s time. Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Standard appointments are designed to allow the doctor to have an average of 10 minutes with each patient. This is generally long enough to cover one single health problem which typically may involve discussing a short history, carrying out a simple examination and prescribing medication.
To keep the doctors on time and to allow them to give your health issues the attention they deserve without being rushed, please consider bringing one problem to each appointment.
Occasionally if you have multiple problems that cannot be managed in the allotted time, your doctor may ask you to book another appointment.
When you arrive
When you arrive, please inform the receptionist of your arrival so that we can check you in our computer system.
Please inform us if you think you are contagious as we may choose to seat you away from other patients.
Additionally please inform us if you arrive and are suffering from an emergency situation such as chest pain or shortness of breath or an allergic reaction.
Accidents and Emergencies
Please advise reception staff on the phone if you feel that your problem is an emergency.
We make every effort to care for our patients in an emergency; however in life threatening situations such as loss of consciousness, chest pain, sudden shortness of breath and allergic reactions, we recommend to call an ambulance by dialing 000, as you are most likely to require hospital attention.
In some semi-urgent cases we can try and fit you in with a doctor, so please inform the reception staff if you feel
After Hours
We subscribe to an After Hours Medical Service to look after our patients when the surgery is closed. “Brisbane After Hours Doctors” can be contacted on 1300 HOME DR (1300 466 337). They provide a bulk billed home visit service to our patients between 6pm-8am and send us a report of the visit the next day to ensure continuity of care.
For further information go to www.1300homedr.com.au
Alternatively, our nearest public hospitals with an emergency department are:
- Prince Charles Hospital (Chermside)
- Royal Brisbane Hospital & Royal Children’s Hospital (Herston)
- Redcliffe Public Hospital
- Mater Public Hospital (South Brisbane).
Our nearest private hospitals with an emergency department are:
- Holy Spirit Northside Hospital (Chermside)
- St Andrew’s Hospital (Spring Hill)
- Wesley Hospital (Auchenflower)
- Mater Private Hospital (South Brisbane).
Home visits
Home visits may be booked in advance in some cases for frail elderly patients or patients with reduced mobility. These requests need to be discussed with the doctor and are not guaranteed to be granted, but we will do our best to help.