Appointments and Referrals

To claim your Medicare rebate the government requires you have a current/valid referral to see a medical specialist in Australia. Without a valid referral, you will not be able to claim a Medicare rebate.

If you intend to apply to Medicare for a rebate it is your responsibility to ensure you have a valid referral prior to every appointment or procedure as per the government rules for patients wanting to claim a rebate.  Your referring doctor can not backdate a referral.  Our specialists can see and treat patients without a current referral but you will not be able to claim your medicare rebate or any payment from your private health fund.  You are responsible for full payment of your account regardless of whether you claim a medicare rebate or not.

A referral from your GP will last 12 months unless specified otherwise.  If ongoing review is required your GP can provide you with an indefinite referral.
A referral from another specialist will last 3 months.

Some of our specialists request that they review your referral prior to scheduling your appointment.  This allows them to triage your appointment to urgent if necessary, or to offer fast track referrals to some services such as cystoscopy or urodynamics if these are recommended.  This process can reduce waiting times for patients for their appointment.

• A link to complete your online registration, to submit your details, with information about our fees and privacy statement.
• Following registration you can phone or email us to make your appointment.
• You will then be emailed the following details:
• Details of your appointment
• A Bladder Diary to complete and return. It is useful for your doctor to see how often you pass urine and how much you bladder usually holds. Completing the diary prior to you initial appointment can just help to reach a diagnosis or suggest treatments options sooner. If you do not think this is relevant to your problem then you need not fill it in. It can be discussed at your first appointment and filled in subsequently if required.
• A request to have a mid stream urine test if you have not had one in the last 6 months. Otherwise please bring a copy of the result to your appointment. This urine test looks for infection, red and white blood cells in your urine.

1. If you are a new patient sometimes there is a long wait for your appointment with the specialist.  If you also have an appointment with the Continence GP while you are waiting they can do a number of things;

• check all the tests are completed that the specialist is likely to require such as urine tests, bladder diary, flow rate, bladder scan, any ultrasounds or Xrays.  This can then save a visit where the specialist orders test and then reviews you with the results.
• They can try non-surgical treatments such as pelvic floor exercises or medication.  Usually surgical procedures are for those patients where the non-surgical options have not worked.  If the non-surgical options have already been tried before you see the surgeon you will proceed to surgery quicker than if these then need to be trialled first.
• If the Contiennce GP has questions regarding your management or need to be seen earlier they can discuss your case with the surgeon.
• If the Continence GP liases with the surgeon to recommend proceeding straight to further investigation with either cystoscopy or fluoroscopic urodynamics this can be scheduled direclty with the surgeon earlier than your existing appointment.
• If the non-surgical treatments trialled are sucessful you may choose to cancel your appointment with the surgeon if this is not necessary and return to the care of your usual GP.

2. If you have seen the specialist and they have arranged a plan or treatment and or investigations a review in the interim with the Continence GP to adjust medication etc as per you plan can then reduce the number of times you need to see the specialist with can reduce the cost of your treatment.

3. Consultations with our Continence GP cost less than with the specialists and wait times for their appointments are shorter.

4. There are a number of treatments performed by our Continence GPs.

There are a number of options.

1. Telehealth consults are available.
2. To reduce the number of visits if the referral problem indicates a procedure such as a (fast track) cystoscopy or fluoroscopic urodynamics is required this could be directly scheduled as your first appointment combined with your initial consult.  This can then avoid a second trip to come back for the procedure.  Further visits may still be required to discuss the results or for ongoing management.  The specialist can usually determine from your referral is this is suitable.  This process can also reduce waiting times usually required for new patient consultations.

This is where you pass urine into a toilet like device which will measure how much urine you pass and how fast it is passed.  Ideally you need a full bladder so you can pass a good amount, at least 100ml of urine.  It is not necessary to hold on until you are uncomfortable or incontinent.  A bladder scan may be performed afterwards.

A bladder scan uses ultrasound to measure how much is in the bladder.  If this is performed after you have voided it determines if you empty out fully or if you leave some behind and how much.