Making an Appointment with Southern Vascluar

For all appointments please call:

+61 3 9429 1176

Office Hours:

Mon – Thursday: 9.00am – 5.00 pm
Friday: 9.00 am – 12.00 Noon
Weekends and 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 on this website.

Helpful Hint: For an appointment we recommend not calling between 9am and 10am on a Monday morning. It can be a bit hectic.

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

 

Information for Patients - Making an Appointment

When you have your doctor’s referral, take a look at the website 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 four priorities:

Critical – Today: same day – Note: only offered if the condition is life-threatening.
Urgent – Tomorrow: 1 – 2 days lead time.
Important – Next week: depending on the site required ordinary appointments may be up to two to three weeks hence. 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 return to us including personal details and medications lists (which can be obtained from your doctor or your chemist). The pack 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 the appointment don’t forget 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, cheque or cash.

If English is not your first language, we welcome friends or family who can come along to the appointment as translators.

 

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 Specialist 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 i.e. minimal patient out of pocket amount.  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 and ultrasound half hour or an hour before your consultation for your convenience.  If you elect this option please allow about 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 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
Worksafe/TAC appointments (see separate section on Worksafe/TAC)
Patients with Aneurisms
Patients with Hyperhidrosis, enquiring about surgery (Sympathectomy)

Please state at the outset that you require a "second opinion" appointment as extra time may need to be allocated.

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

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

Patients are eligible for fully rebateable Medicare fee (i.e. no out of pocket expense) for repeat visits after:

Workcover/TAC
Please inform the staff when booking an appointment for TAC/Workcover so we can allocate enough time for your consultation and so that no fees are applied to Medicare (this includes 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 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 any written information about your claim to the initial consultation.

 We will write to your insurer with our opinion seeking authority to treat you. 

Workcover/TAC covers most operation fees at a level which we accept i.e. no out of pocket.  However they do not cover some operations and most procedures (these are classed as outpatient 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 needed.  We will then write a letter to them about our findings and recommendations for further treatment.
  3. Further treatment may come after a short delay until confirmation of arrangements is received by our office.
  4. Our practice does not provide formal assessment of degree of disability.  This is a specialised set of rules, applied by accredited disability assessors and differs significantly from the usual specialist clinical assessment opinion.

 

 

Referring Doctors

Fax all referrals and report copies to 03 9429 4721

Email any patient information or for appointments to: office@southernvascular.com.au

Email practice management enquiries (not patient related) to: admin@southernvascular.com.au

Argus connection: Under Development

ROUTINE APPOINTMENTS:

Waiting times vary from 1-6 weeks, but mostly will be in the range of 3-4 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 get out patient notes and Mr Self will review and return your call if he is available.