Patient Information

Toormina Medical Centre

Consultation times

Monday to Friday: 8.00am to 6.00pm
Saturday: 9.00am to 12pm
Sunday: Closed

All Public Holidays Closed
Christmas Day and Good Friday – Closed

Sawtell Medical Centre

Consultation times

Monday to Friday: 8.30am to 5.00pm

• Appointments can be booked by phoning Toormina Medical Centre on (02) 6653 1766 or Sawtell Medical Centre on (02) 6653 1785.
• Online bookings can be made by clicking on “Book Toormina” or ‘Book Sawtell” box on right upper corner of this website.

Standard Appointments

Standard appointments are up to 15 minutes.
If you think that your consultation may take longer, please ask the staff to book a long appointment for you.

Long Appointments

The reception staff need to be advised if you require a longer consultation time than 15 minutes.

Urgent Appointments

Please advise the staff when phoning if you have an urgent matter that you feel cannot wait until the next available routine appointment. The staff may enquire as to the nature of the matter, so prompt and appropriate arrangements can be made, or whether an ambulance should be called.

Should you be experiencing chest pain or severe breathlessness you should phone 000 for an ambulance.

After Hours and Emergencies

One of the Independent Practitioners from TMC are “on-call” for emergencies every day of the year. The Independent Practitioners can be contacted by phoning the Toormina Medical Centre on (02) 6653 1766, and your call will be diverted. Please note that ‘after hours’ visits are not ‘bulk-billed’.

Outside of our regular hours, patients needing to be seen urgently have the following options:

• Contact the on-call Independent Practitioner by phoning (02) 6653 1766.
• Present at the Coffs Harbour Base Hospital Emergency Department.
• In case of emergencies, call an ambulance by dialing …. 000

Medical and insurance appointments

Medicals often have a questionnaire that is associated with the examination. You will need to check if the medical requires any testing: eyesight, hearing, breathing or blood tests. Please then contact staff with your requirements, and they will book the appropriate appointments. You will need to complete your part of the questionnaire before attending the appointment.

Non English speaking patients

The Practice endeavours to use an interpreter through TIS National (www.tisnational.gov.au phone 131450) with Patients who do not speak the primary language of our practice team – English. TMC Medical utilizes the service provided by TIS National to have an interpreter available via phone in consultations with the Independent Practitioners and patients who have difficulty communicating in English. This ensures that the Practice Team understands patients and that patients understand any verbal instructions or written information.

Unable to attend?

Appointments are important to us all. If you are unable to attend, please contact us as soon as possible, so that appointment may be filled by another patient.

Failure to attend your appointment may incur a ‘missed consultation’ fee. The fee for this missed appointment will be at least the cost of the scheduled time. (NB: Missing a long appointment may incur a fee up $180.00)

We are a private billing practice.
The fees are displayed at the reception.
We do offer discounts for those holding Pension or Health Care Cards.
Fees are payable at the time of the consultation.
After paying your account, your Medicare rebate can be immediately lodged into your bank account.
Greater fees may be charged by individual Practitioners in the practice. This would be discussed upon booking.

For patients of the practice; Children will be “bulk-billed” for routine immunisations at each Independent Practitioners discretion.

Bulk billing for all other consults for children will be at the discretion of individual Independent Practitioners.

DVA patients’ fees are covered by Department of Veterans Affairs.

Weekend Fees

All Saturday consultations are privately billed.

Saturday Consultations: $120.00

Prescription and Specialist Referral Renewals

For a Prescription or Specialist referral renewal, without consultation a fee of $10- $40 will be charged. This fee is non-Medicare refundable. Please allow 48 hours.

List of Fees as of 1st November 2024

(Fees are reviewed in November each year)

The following is an indication of fees, but billing is dependent upon the services and consumables required and the applicable Medicare item numbers for those services.

Please refer to the patient information for failure to attend appointments, as missing a long consultation may incur a fee up to $180.00

Test Results

Test results will be reviewed by the Independent Practitioners when they are received. Test results take, on average, 3 days to receive. TMC staff will contact the patient if the Independent Practitioners requests a follow up appointment once a result has been received.

We are now using an SMS Recall for results via the Hotdoc App. If the Independent Practitioner is recalling you to discuss results, click on the link to make the appointment.

Prescriptions/Referrals

In some cases, ongoing prescriptions or ongoing referrals may be provided without consultation. We need a minimum of 48 hrs notice please. There is a fee of $20-$40 for prescriptions or referrals without a consultation. There is no Medicare rebate for these items.

Home Visits

If necessary, we will visit patients at home but we usually find it better to see you at the medical centre where we have full facilities. It is usually not possible to do urgent house calls – if it is an emergency call 000 for an ambulance.

Phone Calls

The practice nurses can provide advice and follow up for some conditions over the phone. Please be sure your query is straight forward. We cannot make a diagnosis over the telephone! To minimize interruptions to other patients, receptionists may take your number so that you can be called back. If the matter is urgent let the receptionist know so that you can be put straight through to the nurse. If the nurse is unable to assist or feels the matter requires an Independent Practitioners assistance she will either make an appointment for you to see one of the Independent Practitioners, speak to them for advice or ask the Independent Practitioner to return your call. Return calls by the Independent Practitioners will be made either at the end of their morning session or at the end of the day.

Registers

Details of PAP smears, and childhood immunizations performed at TMC are forwarded to the PAP Smear and Australian Childhood Immunisation Registers. These registers are important to determine the numbers of Australians accessing these services. Please discuss these registers with your Independent Practitioner if you have any concerns.

Reminder Systems

The TMC practice is committed to preventative care and routinely records information which is later used to remind patients about investigations, visits, or procedures when they are due. If you would prefer not to be entered into this reminder system please let your Independent Practitioner know.

Privacy Policy

Your medical record is a confidential document. Your privacy is important to us in safeguarding your information. Download our Privacy Policy.

Complaints, Constructive Criticism, Praise, Etc

If you have a problem or can think of a way for us to improve our service, please discuss it with your Independent Practitioner or the Practice Manager.

General Practice Information

• myDr.com.au
  A useful comprehensive site of useful resources and animated clips

Cancer

• Cancer Screening
  Links to Breast, Cervical and Bowel cancer screening programs

Chronic Disease Prevention

• Measure Up (Australian Government)

Endocrinology

• Diabetes Australia

Immunisation

• Immunise Australia Program (Government)

Men’s Health

• Men’s Health Australia
  Good information, guidelines and very comprehensive list of useful links.

Mental Health

• Black Dog Institute
  Very comprehensive site for public and health professionals on diagnostic tools and fact sheets on depression, bipolar disorder and moos disorder.

Patient Support Groups

• The Drs Reference Site

Respiratory

• Asthma Foundation

Smoking

• Quit Now

Travel

• Overseas Travel Advice – TM + VC

Women’s Health

• The Royal Women’s Hospital Victoria