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General Patient Information
In this section...
To find general information
about our practices, please use the menu on the
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APPOINTMENTS
Appointments are required for all ultrasound
and Bone Density examinations.
Appointments are not required for plain x-ray or
dental examinations, although it is still
recommended that you phone ahead or make one anyway.
Important Notes
1. Urgent cases will be given priority, followed by
appointments.
2. If you have an ultrasound appointment, it must be strictly
adhered to.
Lateness or failing to
follow the preparation correctly may mean your
appointment will have to be rescheduled, and you may
be charged a service fee.
Failing to arrive at all or cancelling with less
than 24 hours notice will result in a $100
cancellation fee being charged, with no Medicare refund available -
so please help us better serve all of our patients by
turning up on time, and properly prepared.
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REFERRALS
We
accept all referrals whether they be on our
letterhead or not - so if you saw a doctor in
another town and he/she has referred you to their
local x-ray practice, you can still use that same
form with us.
A referral must be given to you by an eligible
referring practitioner (eg GP, chiropractor, dentist
etc) for you to be eligible for a Medicare rebate.
If you do not bring your referral, we may not be
able to do the examination.
Note that some referrers are limited in what they
can ask for - eg a chiropractor can ask for a spine
x-ray, but not a knee x-ray. We can still do the
x-ray in such a case, but you may need to pay the
full fee with no Medicare rebate.
Also you should be aware that we can only perform
those examinations requested specifically on the
referral form - so if you want something else
x-rayed at the same time, make sure you ask your
doctor first so they can write it on the referral
form.
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PARKING
There
is plenty of free parking at all practice
locations, and all are at ground level with no
stairs.
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RESULTS
Results
are available on average within 20 minutes of the
completion of your examination. However this may
vary depending on the workload at the time.
The quietest time of the day is usually between 1pm
and 3pm, so waiting times are usually shortest then.
You may wait for your results, or pick them up
later. We deliver only to referrers within walking
distance of the practice.
Results are sent electronically to GPs who have
facilities for this service.
Please note that for privacy reasons, we
cannot give out results to patients or doctors over
the phone. We can however fax the result to a doctor
only when we have received a
written authority to do so from the patient.
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RADIATION
Many
people are concerned about x-rays and the radiation
dose received.
Everyone is subjected to radiation all of the time.
It comes in from the atmosphere, and is emitted from
many ordinary items such as granite benchtops and
talcum powder. This is called background
radiation, and is perfectly normal and nothing
to worry about.
Medical x-rays make up about 2% of the average
annual background radiation dose.
We are committed to minimising the radiation dose to
our patients.
That is why we use only the very
latest high-frequency, low radiation equipment as
well as extended-distance techniques and special
filters to ensure your x-ray dose is as low or lower
than anywhere else. We have also installed the
latest automatic exposure control (AEC)
devices to ensure the amount of
x-ray used to get the image is perfect
everytime. This means less chance of having
to re-take the x-ray (which would increase your
radiation dose), but also gives consistently high
quality imaging to provide the most accurate
diagnosis.
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