Making an Appointment with Southern Vascular

For all appointments please call:

+61 3 9429 1176

Office Hours:

Monday – Thursday: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
Friday: 9.00 am – 12.00 Noon
Weekends / Public Holidays: Closed

Please call if you are running late or need to reschedule your appointment. Additional numbers for satellite locations are on the “Our Practice – Locations” page.

Helpful Hint: For an appointment we recommend not calling between 9 am and 10 am on a Monday morning, to avoid peak periods.

After Hours: There is a message on our answering machine at 03 9429 1176 with Mr Self’s emergency contact details or cover arrangements if he is unavailable.

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Information for Patients – Making an Appointment

When you have your doctor’s referral, take a look at our locations to see which might suit you, with regard to access from home, parking and transport.

Ring us for an appointment time.

The appointment can be set with one of four priorities:

• Critical / Today: same day (only offered if the condition is life-threatening)
• Urgent / Tomorrow: 1 – 2 days lead time
• Important / Next week: call the office as soon as possible to schedule
• Routine / 2-4 weeks: timing and site of the appointment may depend on whether additional ultrasound appointments are required.

If there is time before your appointment, we will send you information forms to be completed, and returned to us including personal details and medication lists (which can be obtained from your doctor or your chemist). The kit will also confirm your appointment time for ultrasound and consultation, and list expected pricing for consultations. Pricing of procedures will be provided at your appointment.

Where possible, please complete and return the forms before your appointment.

When you come to your appointment, please remember to bring any ultrasounds, referrals and test results.

You will generally be billed on the day of the appointment and a receipt will be issued for payment received. We take most credit cards, EFTPOS, cash.

If English is not your first language, we welcome friends or family who can attend to help with translation.

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Information for Patients – Appointment Overview

Initial Consultation
If a Doctor refers you for a consultation, the clinic will provide you with a first appointment letter (Referral Letter), and ask you to arrange an appointment with us. For many patients, we will arrange a vascular ultrasound examination prior to, or even at the same appointment. The ultrasounds are done by specialist vascular ultrasonographers working for organisations with no financial association with Mr Self. Their fees are generally similar to the Medicare CMBS rebate (minimal patient out of pocket cost). With this ultrasound report available, we hope to avoid the usual sequence of consultation followed by ultrasound, followed by 2nd consultation, thus saving you the time and expense of three appointments.

At the Epworth Centre, we can arrange an ultrasound at half hour or an hour before your consultation for your convenience. If you choose this option, please allow around 2 hours for the ultrasound, consultation, information from office staff about proposed procedures (info, costs, times, etc.).

If you have an ultrasound examination separate from your consultation, please allow 1 week for our office to receive, review, and file the results. Please inform staff at your consultation that you have had an ultrasound, so we can retrieve it promptly.

Extended consultations
Some consultations require more time. Please inform the staff so we can allocate enough time and keep appointments for subsequent patients running to time. Consultations requiring more time attract a slightly higher fee and include:

2nd opinions
Workcover/TAC appointments (see separate section on Workcover/TAC)
Patients with Aneurysms
Patients with Hyperhidrosis (Sympathectomy)

Please state at the outset that you require a “second opinion” appointment, as extra time is required.

Repeat Consultations
Patients with complex conditions may require a subsequent consultation to review test results, or further discuss treatment options. Please bring your calendar so we can arrange a time to suit you.

Patients who have had operations/angiograms/venous procedures are not charged for visits in the 6 weeks after the operation.

Workcover / TAC
Please inform the staff when booking an appointment for Workcover/TAC so we can allocate enough time for your consultation and so that no fees are applied to Medicare (including your ultrasound exam if applicable).

The usual practice fee will apply for your initial consultation and repeat consultation to review investigations. You will need to pay the consultation fees and claim them back from your insurer. It is expected that your insurer will pay most, but not all of the fees.

Your correspondence and consultation will be dealt with in the course of our usual business, i.e. without undue delay.

You must bring written information about your claim to the initial consultation.

We will write to your insurer with our opinion, seeking authority to treat you. Treatment arrangements then await their written agreement.

Workcover/TAC covers most operation fees at a level which we accept (ie: no out of pocket). They do not cover some complex operations and most venous procedures.

Medico-Legal Patients

1. Are not seen without prior approval.
2. Your legal firm must contact us in writing regarding their requirements. We will then advise if the case is one that we can handle and what our fees will be. Agreement by the legal firm in writing and payment of the agreed fee will then lead to your consultation or possibly several consultations and investigations as required. We will then write a letter to them with our findings and recommendations for further treatment.
3. Our practice does not provide formal assessment of degree of disability. This is performed under a specialised set of rules, applied by accredited disability assessors, and differs significantly from the usual specialist clinical assessment.

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Referring Doctors

Fax all referrals and report copies to 03 9429 4721

Email patient information or appointment requests to: office@southernvascular.com.au

Argus connection: we routinely use and prefer Argus

ROUTINE APPOINTMENTS:

Waiting times vary from 1-6 weeks, but most are in the range of 2-4 weeks. Please also read the general appointments information.

URGENT PATIENT REFERRALS OR QUESTIONS:

1. Call our rooms (03 9429 1176). If you identify the appointment as an urgent case Mr Self can see the patient either that day, that week, or next week as appropriate. The patient may need to travel to various consulting sites to meet the timeframe.
2. If necessary, ask the staff if they can retrieve patient notes and Mr Self will review these and return your call when he is available.