Patient Information
The Doctors may take phone calls relating to you and your family’s health. If however, they are in consult with a Patient when you call, the Doctor may need to call you back.
GPs at Cowes Medical Centre both privately and bulk bill. If your GP privately bills, payment for the consultation is expected on the day. We can submit your paid account online to Medicare for claiming and refund.
Pensioners and Veterans’ Affairs card holders are Bulk Billed.
Information about fees is available at reception. Fees vary according to the complexity of service or if a procedure is performed and are determined by the GP.
Please ensure you bring your Medicare card, Health Care Card or Pension Card to your appointment.
New Patients Welcome.
Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time to fill in both the New Patient Registration Form and your Patient Medical History form. This will assist our Reception team to prepare your file for your GP visit.
For your convenience, download these forms prior to your visit, complete and hand to the Reception team upon arrival.
When registering please let our team know if you have identity specifics to be noted. This includes, but is not limited to:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island patients and/or Culturally and linguistically diverse patients.
Consultations at the Cowes Medical Centre are by appointment. A standard appointment is 15 minutes. Every effort is made to provide an appointment with the Doctor of your choice; however, for urgent matters this may not be possible. We try to keep as closely as possible to the appointed times, however if we are unable to do this, staff will inform you of any expected delays.
If you feel you need to see the Doctor for a complex medical issue, or have more than one problem, please inform reception when booking your appointment so that a longer appointment can be made.
Please ensure your telephone number and address is correct and up to date
o speak with a Doctor after hours, call the clinic on (03) 9510 7888.
In the event of an emergency, please call 000 for an ambulance.
Nurse on Call – 1300 60 60 24
Call “Nurse on Call” if you would like some telephone advice
Emergency – 000
The closest emergency department is the:
Alfred Hospital
Commercial Road
Melbourne VIC 3004
Phone: 9076 2000
We encourage patients to come to the clinic if at all possible so that we can deliver optimal care with full access to clinical facilities and equipment. Regular patients who are unable to attend Cowes Medical Centre will be referred to their usual Doctor who will assess the home visit request and make appropriate arrangements for the patient.
Come prepared with…
- A clear idea of what you wish to discuss with the Doctor.
- A list of all the medications you are taking, including prescriptions, non-prescriptions and herbal medicines.
- Check the number of repeat scripts you still have so these can be updated if necessary.
- If it is your first time with this doctor be prepared to give a family history.
- If you think you need more than 10-15 minutes with your doctor, please book a Long appointment with the reception.
- If you wish to discuss several separate issues, please consider making a separate appointment for each issue.
- Ask the doctor to write down any specific directions about which you may be unsure.
- At the end of the consultation, be clear whether a follow up appointment is required.
- Minor surgical procedures require a double appointment with both the Nurse and the Doctor, please be sure to make both appointments.
We are conveniently located only a short walking distance from Windsor Railway Station.
To maintain confidentiality, results will not be given over the phone except in special circumstances. Non-clinical staff do not have access to patient files.
Please make a further appointment with your Doctor to obtain the results of any tests.
The Doctor or Pathologist can inform you as to how long it will take for these results to be received by the clinic, so that a convenient appointment time can be made.
Be sure to make your follow up appointment before leaving the clinic at time of tests.
Be sure to securely store your referrals or prescriptions as there is a cost for the Doctor to re-print these.
Doctors will not be available to take calls whilst consulting. Urgent matters can be passed onto your Doctor via the reception team at the best convenient time to the Doctor.
Doctors expect to return patient calls when he/she is available to do so
As an as an accredited medical clinic, Cowes Medical Centre respect that your record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times, ensuring that this information is only available to authorised persons involved in patient care.
The “personal information” we collect may include your name, date of birth, address/es, contact details, ethnicity, Medicare number and next of kin details. It is clinic policy that on a regular basis patients will be required to confirm their details are up to date. Your assistance in keeping your file accurate, complete and well-organised are very much appreciated.
At any time, our reception team are happy to assist you in obtaining a copy of your medical records from another Medical Centre. Please ask for a Medical History Transfer Form.
For more information on our privacy policy.
Your feedback is important to us. We appreciate the opportunity to acknowledge great service and to improve any area of concern.
As part of our Quality Improvement process we have a Patient Complaint and Feedback procedure.
If you are a patient at this clinic and wish to discuss any concerns, we encourage you to contact the Clinic Manager to commence this process.
We take your concerns, suggestions and complaints seriously. However, if you feel we have not handled your complaint in an appropriate manner and wish someone to mediate on your behalf, you can contact:
Health Complaints Commissioner
Level 26
570 Bourke Street
Melbourne, 3000
Victoria, Australia
Phone: 1300 582 113
View our Privacy Policy by clicking here