Appointments can be made by calling our practice on 02 4909 8491 in opening hours, or at anytime via https://www.hotdoc.com.au/ or https://www.westcottmedical.com.au/.
Please make a separate appointment for each person attending.
We allocate 10 minutes per standard appointment.
We can only sort 1 or maximum 2 problems during a 10 minute consultation.(depending the complexity of your work). We encourage you to priorities your health issues for optimal level of care.
For two or more health issues you will require a longer appointment. Please advise the receptionist and make a longer appointment when making your booking.
Please always make appropriate appointment to provide you with best service and minimize the waiting time. We will address the most urgent issue and may ask you to reschedule another appropriate appointment if we think your current appointment is not long enough to address your issues.
Please feel free to talk to our reception team to discuss and book the appropriate appointment for your needs.
Always arrive on time for your appointment. This will allow to minimize the waiting time. In case if you are running late- please notify us and we can help you to re-schedule your appointment.
Please note following appointments need a dedicated 20 min appointment and we are unable to discuss other health issues during this consultations.(Chronic disease management plans, Team care arrangements , mental health care plan, heart health check)
Whenever possible, appointments are available for booking on the day, however they may not be with your usual doctor. Another doctor in the practice will be able to assist you. If it is an emergency please inform the receptionist.
Walk-in Appointments
If there is an available appointment, an appointment will be allocated with the first available doctor, which may require some waiting.
All new patients to ring the clinic for a Face to face appointment.
For all new patients, please arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment time to complete a new patient form.
On initial consultation with your doctor you will require more time, this allows for a complete health history to be documented.
If you are a new patient with complex medical conditions/taking multiple medications strongly suggest booking 20 min consultation with the GP
Telephone and video consultations are available for patients that have consulted with a GP, face to face in the practice, within the previous 12 months.
For emergency treatment, phone 000 for the ambulance service or attend Emergency Department of the nearest public hospital .we offer after-hours care to patients of our practice by having formal arrangements with an accredited medical service, 13CURE. It is available by calling 132873.
If you can no longer attend the appointment, please cancel or reschedule through your confirmation email or Hot Doc
Patients failing to cancel their appointment within 2 hours from scheduled appointment time / unable to attend their appointment incur a $30 fee & appointments cannot be made until account finalised.
- Mental Health care plans, and mental health consultations
- Chronic disease management plan
- Stranded health checkups (45-49 years, 75+ check up, heart health check)
- Government funded Vaccinations
Please note that the following consultations will not be bulk billed. (No medicare rebate available)
Private patients
Form Filling – an appointment is required in order to ensure that your form will be completed correctly and within the required time period.
Insurance medicals
Superannuation form filling
Pre-Employment or Insurance Medicals : Not Medicare rebatable. Will attract GST. Fee depends on the complexity and time. Please discuss with us prior to book this type of appointments. We can guide you with cost.
Commercial Driving medical: Not Medicare rebatable. Will attract GST in addition to consult fee.
Motor vehicle accidents,
Wound care
Travel Medical consultations. and travel vaccinations,
Procedures( PLEASE NOTE: ALL PATIENTS WILL INCUR A FEE FOR PROCEDURES).
ALL PROCEDURES WILL ATTRACT A FEE AND WILL BE PRIVATELY BILLED AT ALL TIMES (Unless specified by the doctor) – some procedures may be eligible to receive a Medicare rebate. Please discuss with the doctor prior to the procedure for more details.
All injuries that occur in the workplace, whether at-fault or not, will be billed under WorkCover and not Medicare, as per Commonwealth legislation.
We will bill the workplace insurance company only after an email from the insurance company accepting liability, with a claim number, is shown. All bills prior to that, including the initial consultation regarding the injury, will be paid by the patient, and a receipt will be issued to enable you to claim this back in full from WorkCover
Please advise our receptionist in advance if you require communications assistance or support and tis will be arranged.
It is a policy of our practice that medications of addiction are not to be prescribed unless under direction of a specialist. Our practice is able to offer support and program assistance for patients requiring medications of addiction.
E mail is for Non-medical and Administrative purposes only.
Please note that Email is not a secure form of communication and is not encouraged by Westcott street Medical centre for this reason and therefore privacy and confidentiality cannot be guaranteed if this method of communication is used
Please do not send your medical information , urgent medical issues, medical complaints or requests. Our email address is not monitored regularly.
Please be advised that we do not tolerate any aggression or abusive behaviour towards our staff. Any patient engaging in abusive behaviour will be asked to leave our practice.
Emergency calls will always be connected to a doctor. All non-urgent calls related to patient care will be answered by the doctor between consultations or returned at the end of the doctor’s session.
It is the Practice policy that patients make appointments to come back and see their GP for their test results. If urgent, the practice will contact you to come in earlier.
As your health will change over time, and appropriate medical care is given, our doctors need to see you for a consultation at least every 6 months that a prescription renewal is required. Medical recommendations also change over time. Please book an appointment so that we can assess your health, monitor the appropriateness of your medication and how much of the medication you should be taking, and incorporate our knowledge of the latest medical recommendations.
Referral letters are an important form of communication between GPs, specialists, and allied health providers. It is necessary for us to see you when you require a referral letter so that we can not only ensure that the referral is appropriate, but also so that our referral letters will contain correct and up-to-date information to facilitate the best care for you when you see your specialist or allied health provider
• Please note that the referrals will not be backdated.
A doctor needs to see the patient before a medical certificate is issued. Medical certificates will not be backdated.
Our Clinic is committed to preventive care. We may issue you with a reminder notice from time to time, offering you preventative health services appropriate to your care. Please let reception staff knows if you would like to opt out of receiving reminders.
Your medical record is a confidential document. It is always the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information to ensure that this information is only available to authorized members of the staff. A separate information brochure is available detailing the strict confidentiality requirements practiced by all of our staff.
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. Your Medical Record is a confidential document and the privacy of your health is extremely important to us. All staff, including administration staff, respects your privacy and keeps your health information strictly confidential at all times. It is the policy of our practice to maintain the security of personal health information at all times, and to ensure that this information is only available to authorized people. A copy of our privacy policy is located at reception and on our website.
If you require your medical records to be transferred to/from our practice we kindly ask that you sign a request of medical records form that will be sent to the appropriate destination. The records will be transferred within 30 days of signature. *Please note fees may apply for release of medical records.
This practice submits patient data to various diseases registers to assist with preventative health management (e.g. cervical, breast and bowel screening, etc.). Consent is required and obtained from the patient to ‘opt in’ to have their information shared with these registers. This consent is obtained when the patient first attends the practice, and patients are reminded through the practice privacy policy which is located at reception and on the practice’s website at all times.
It is a requirement of our practice, and allowable under the exemption clauses of the Privacy Act 1988, to report the communicable disease cases required by the Department of Health when identified in patients of our practice.
During business hours, home visits are available for regular patients whose condition prevents them from attending the practice, and live in a 7km radius. These appointments may involve out of pocket costs, requires 24 hours notice and will be made at doctor’s discretion.
Feedback and Complaints:
Westcott Street Medical Centre endeavours to provide you with the best possible healthcare and service at all times. We welcome all feedback, suggestions and complaints that you have about the practice. You can address these to your Doctor in writing to 2 Westcott Street, Cessnock, NSW, 2325 or receptionwestcottmedical@gmail.com or use the suggestion box in the waiting room.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction or you have an issue that you feel needs addressing by an outside body please contact The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), Locked Bag 18, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012.
Ph: 02 9219 7444, or toll free in NSW 1800 043 159, email: hccc@hccc.nsw.gov.au or view their website at hccc@nsw.gov.au
We are an accredited practice. This means we are committed to continual quality improvement of our practice and care to our patients. There are strict guidelines we have to follow and we are tested on these guidelines every three years. We are continually making improvements on the way we operate based on these guidelines and as such from time to time you may find we change the way we do some things. We will always be committed to continual improvement and providing the highest quality of patient care.
Our surgical equipment is single use / disposable.
Please note that our surgery has a non-smoking policy. We thank you for your cooperation.
Disabled parking is available.
Westcott Street Medical Centre does not regularly monitor social media. Do not attempt to contact us on social media for appointments or urgent matters. If you have an urgent matter or need an appointment please call the practice between the hours of 8:30am and 5:00pm on 02 4909 8491.
Our practice complies with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) national law, and takes reasonable steps to remove testimonials that advertise our services (which may include comments about the practitioners themselves). Our practice is not responsible for removing (or trying to have removed) unsolicited testimonials published on a website or in social media over which we do not have control.
When using the practice’s social media, all members of our practice team will not:
Post any material that:
• Is unlawful, threatening, defamatory, pornographic, inflammatory, menacing, or offensive
• Infringes or breaches another person’s rights (including intellectual property rights) or privacy, or misuses the practice’s or another person’s confidential information (e.g. do not submit confidential information relating to our patients, personal information of staff, or information concerning the practice’s business operations that have not been made public)
• Is materially damaging or could be materially damaging to the practice’s reputation or image, or another individual
• Is in breach of any of the practice’s policies or procedures
• Use social media to send unsolicited commercial electronic messages, or solicit other users to buy or sell products or services or donate money,
• Impersonate another person or entity (for example, by pretending to be someone else or another practice employee or other participant when you submit a contribution to social media) or by using another’s registration identifier without permission,
• Tamper with, hinder the operation of, or make unauthorised changes to the social media sites,
• Knowingly transmit any virus or other disabling feature to or via the practice’s social media account, or use in any email to a third party, or the social media site,
• Attempt to do or permit another person to do any of these things:
• Claim or imply that you are speaking on the practice’s behalf, unless you are authorised to do so
• Disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to the practice, or to any third party that has disclosed information to the practice
• Be defamatory, harassing, or in violation of any other applicable law,
• Include confidential or copyrighted information (e.g. music, videos, text belonging to third parties), and
• Violate any other applicable policy of the practice.
If you have any cold or flu-like symptoms or are a close contact with a positive case of COVID-19, please stay at home and book a telehealth consultation.
Want more information:
Please visit our website https://www.westcottmedical.com.au/ , visit our Facebook page or call us on 02 4909 8491 and speak to one of our friendly staff.