Frequently Asked Questions

Home visits

Home visits are available to patients if it is clinically indicated and their condition prevents them from attending the surgery.  These arrangements can be made by prior arrangement with the Doctors/Nurses or the Practice Manager and will not always be on the same day as the request is made.

All patients in residential aged care facilities are visited monthly and more often as their condition indicates or the facility staff request an urgent review.

Telephone access

Doctors may be contacted during normal office hours, however we are unable to put every call through immediately if they are consulting.

Our staff will pass on the message via our internal messaging system and the Doctor will return your call as soon as possible, dependent on time constraints.

If your problem is urgent and you are ill you may consider speaking to the practice nurse.

Practice nursing staff

The Practice Nurses at Brecken Health Albany are all registered and enrolled nurses with comprehensive clinical experience working across many areas of surgical and medical nursing.  The nurses are able to speak with you on the telephone or in the surgery if you have health concerns.

They work under the direction of and in conjunction with the Doctors and provide support for procedures;

• Immunisation’s (for children, occupational health and travel medicine),
• Wound care
• ECG
• Asthma education
• Lung function test
• Ear syringing
• Education  for better chronic disease management
• Advice & assistance with Enduring Power of Guardianship and Advanced Health Directives

Test results

We ask that you contact the surgery 3 working days following the tests being done, or as advised by your Doctor for the results of all of your tests.

If the Doctor has the results prior to that and they require you to return for follow-up then you will receive an automated text message asking you to make a “non-urgent” appointment with your Doctor to discuss your results.   You may opt out of this automated system by letting our reception staff know that you would prefer a telephone call.

It is practice policy to generally bulk bill patients when they return for test results.

Repeat prescriptions

It is in your best interest to see a Doctor whenever you need to have a script renewed.  It is our policy that if all you require is a repeat prescription and that you tell the reception staff of this when booking the appointment you will be bulk billed.

A normal consult will be billed however,  if there are any other issues discussed at the same time.

Your personal health information

Your personal information and 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. Brecken Health Albany is bound by the Federal Privacy Act 1988 which can be found at www.legislation.gov.au, and has a written Privacy Policy Statement (available at reception on request) or you can download here.

Complaints

We take complaints very seriously and will do our best to resolve any issues that you may have. Please speak to the Practice Manager or put in writing to manager@breckenalbany.com.au. For more formal issues that can not be resolved you can contact Health and Disability Services Complaints Office at www.hadsco.wa.gov.au

Providing feedback

We welcome feedback from our patients as this helps us make improvements to our Practice and our patient care. This can be done in the Practice via written or verbal communication or by emailing reception@breckenalbany.com.au