Opening Hours
Mon Reception 7.00am – 7.00pm
Tue – Fri Reception 7.00am – 6.00pm
Saturday Reception 8.45am – 11.30am
STAFF AT THIS PRACTICE
General Practitioners –
Dr John Heinrich
Dr Maurice Gunhouse
Dr David van Gend
Dr Ben Griffin
Dr Mary Donohue
Dr Nardine Kilta
Dr Amani Savy
Dr Hasan Pirzadi
Dr Sama Akhtar
Dr Aqueel Rafique
Practice Manager –
Jenny Moloney
Nursing –
Meg Menhinnitt
Elise Turpin
Shannon Speziali
Hayley Studholme
Vicky O’Connor
Olivia Tyler
Reception –
Linda
Olivia
Kimberley
Chantel
Maria
Maddie
Dr Gunhouse and Dr Heinrich have been with the Practice since the middle of 2013. Dr Heinrich has a special interest in Skin and Muscoskeletal Health. Dr Gunhouse’s medical interests include Paediatric, Family Medicine and Men’s Health. Mackenzie House Medical Centre merged with us in November 2017 and consequently Dr Ben Griffin, Dr David van Gend and Dr Mary Donohue, joined at that stage.
APPOINTMENTS
For routine appointments please phone the practice during reception hours, or alternatively book online. Inform our staff should you believe you require longer than a standard 10 minute appointment. If there are any further details regarding your appointment that you feel may be helpful, please also advise the staff. This will ensure appointments flow smoothly with less waiting time for our patients. However, if you prefer not to discuss the reason for your appointment, just let our staff know.
Telehealth appointments (phone or video) are available when appropriate. Please discuss your needs with our friendly Reception staff by phone in order to book one of these. Telehealth appointments cannot be booked online via HotDoc.
BOOKING OF ONLINE APPOINTMENTS
Standard appointments can now be booked on line. Please head to our website at wtmed.com.au or www.hotdoc.com.au
URGENT CASES
Should you require an urgent appointment, we will always endeavour to accommodate your needs immediately, however this will generally mean that you will be slotted in between other routine appointments. Please be considerate of these patients that are waiting and limit the consultation to the acute problem.
It may be in your best interests for emergency situations, to attend either St Vincent’s Emergency Centre or Toowoomba Hospital Emergency Centre.
For severe trauma, suspected heart attacks, or serious breathing problems we recommend that you call “000” for ambulance transportation to an Emergency Centre.
WAITING TIMES
Unforeseen circumstances and emergencies may mean that waiting times are lengthy on some days. You can assist us in reducing waiting times by:-
- Arriving on time for your appointment and if unable to do so, advising staff of your arrival time
- Being considerate of others when you are allocated a “fit-in” appointment and limit the consultation to the acute problem
- Only telephone to speak to the Doctor if it is really necessary and let the receptionist know whether it is an urgent or routine matter. In most cases the doctor will return your call on the same day. Less interruptions for the doctor usually will mean less waiting time. On most occasions the registered nurse will be able to assist you.
- It is a good idea to telephone the surgery just before your appointment time to see how the doctor is running if you do not wish to wait.
HOUSE CALLS
House calls are provided for the very frail or those patients who are too sick to attend the surgery. This particularly applies to terminally ill cancer patients or stroke victims. Unfortunately house calls can usually only be done out of hours as they are time consuming and cause delays during surgery hours. Alternative arrangements for extreme emergencies will be made in hours, such as Ambulance transport to the surgery or to hospital.
House calls will be privately billed, with an out of pocket expense.
HOSPITAL VISITS
Should you require private hospital admittance, your doctor will organise this for you. You will either remain under his care while in hospital, or should your condition require specialist treatment this will be arranged.
We are registered for the “No Gaps” Scheme with most Private Health Funds and that means there will be no out of pocket expenses and accounts will be sent directly to your health fund for payment. It is recommended that you check with your Health Fund prior to hospital admission for eligibility.
NURSING HOME PATIENTS
We offer nursing home patient care at some nursing homes in Toowoomba. Please check with your doctor whether he is able to continue caring for you should you decide to go into a nursing home.
AFTER HOURS CARE
Should you require non-urgent medical attention out of hours, please phone the surgery and a recorded message will inform you of the doctor on call and contact details. All after hours appointments, appointments before 9am, Saturday morning appointments and house calls will incur an out of pocket expense.
PAYMENT FOR SERVICES
If you require a Long appointment please phone the surgery.
All consultations between the hours of 7.00am-9.00am will be privately billed.
Pensioner Card Holders, Concession Card Holders & Children under 16 years of age will be bulk billed after 9.00am Monday to Friday.
Anyone who does not have a pension or concession card or is over 16 years of age will be required to pay the full private fee.
Saturday consultations are full private fees.
Failure to attend your appointment may incur a No Show fee.
If you no longer require your appointment, please ensure to cancel prior to the scheduled time.
PRESCRIPTIONS AND SPECIALIST REFERRALS
It is the policy of this practice that requests for prescriptions and specialist referrals will require a doctor’s appointment in most cases. Of course we realise that this is not always possible for out of town patients, and for these patients, provided that the patient has been recently seen by the doctor (usually within 7 days), we will consider providing prescriptions via a Telehealth consultation. It is a policy of this practice not to issue prescriptions for opioids to new patients at their first consultation.
CHRONIC ILLNESS
Patients with chronic illness may be eligible for a Chronic Disease Management Plan. Please discuss this with your doctor.
Management plans are also available for mental illness. Your doctor will advise if you are eligible for a mental health treatment plan.
DISABLED ENTRANCE
The Disabled Entrance and Main entrance are now one and the same, on the southern side of the building.
PATIENT FEEDBACK
From time to time this practice invites patients to complete a questionnaire on their views of the practice and how it could be improved. These surveys are completely confidential and help us improve our services.
NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS
We will telephone or SMS to notify you of your results, however it may not always be possible to contact you during surgery hours. If we have not notified your results within one week, please contact the surgery. The doctor may ask that you organise a follow up appointment to discuss your results.
PARTICIPATION IN YOUR CARE
We encourage our patients to participate in decisions about their healthcare and your doctor will discuss management options that are available to you.
MEDICAL RECORDS
Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.
Should you wish the doctor or staff to release or discuss medical information/results with another party (i.e. family members) we will require an authorisation form signed by you.
COMPLAINTS
This practice strives to provide the best possible service to patients. However if you are not happy with the service you have received, we would like to discuss this with you. This is best arranged in person, however if you are unavailable to attend, please telephone the surgery. If you are not satisfied with the handling of your complaint through a third party, please call the “Office of the Health Ombudsman” on 133 646. The postal address is PO Box 13281 George Street, Brisbane 4003 or email: complaints@oho.qld.gov.au.
CONTACTING YOUR DOCTOR
Should you have a query or wish to leave a message for your doctor, please contact the surgery either by phone. The message will be passed on to your doctor and in most cases your phone call will be addressed by the end of the day. Please notify the receptionist if the reason for your call is urgent and we will address your concerns promptly. We do not encourage emails of a medical nature due to security and privacy issues.