There’s certainly no shortage of medical practices in Australia. Some are extremely expensive, while others are more affordable. If you are looking for a new medical practice, then you need to find one that employs qualified and experienced physicians and offers a superior quality service to its competitors.
So how do you find a medical practice that’s high-quality and worth signing up for? This post will answer that question, explaining exactly how you can select a medical practice that you actually need, and get all of your health problems resolved efficiently:
Clinic Chains
Across Australia, there are lots of ‘chain clinics.’ The term chain clinic refers to a doctor’s clinic that is owned by a large company. One of the advantages of working with clinics like this, according to one such healthcare organisation smartclinics.com.au, is that you are able to benefit from the organisation’s investment in high-quality and experienced doctors. Large companies are able to attract the highest-quality doctors because they offer unique benefits and high salaries. It’s definitely worth considering signing up for one of these clinics if you are looking for a new surgery.
Specialist Treatment
Something else that you need to consider is the form of treatment that you need. Some clinics specialise in certain conditions. If you have a very specific health condition that you need to be investigated or treated, then it’s a good idea to find a clinic that specialises in it. This will make it a lot easier for you to receive the treatment that you need and the care that you deserve. If you can’t find a clinic that specialises in your condition, then find one with resident physicians that are experts in that area of medicine or healthcare.
Previous Experience
Another thing that you need to seriously consider is the surgery’s collective experience. When you are applying to become a surgery client, you should be given a list of the physicians or doctors that work there. If you aren’t actively given this information by the surgery, then you can visit their website and see who works there. It’s a good idea to read the description boxes you are given for each doctor so that you can determine whether or not their collective experience is enough. If they are junior doctors for example, then it might be better to go elsewhere.
Resident Physicians
If you want to learn more about the physicians working at the surgery that you are applying to join, then take their names and conduct online research. If they are accomplished physicians, then there should be information available about them elsewhere. Most experienced physicians have information about their previous experience published on a website. If you can’t find a website for the physician that you are researching, then see if they have a LinkedIn page. Most people’s LinkedIn pages have lots of information about them available there, including the university that they want to, and their previous jobs.
Online Reviews
Before applying to become a clinic patient, first read their reviews. A clinic’s reviews will tell you a lot about them. If the reviews are bad across the board, then it’s a strong indication that you should avoid them. One of the main reasons that clinics get bad reviews is because of their customer support and receptionist teams. If a clinic’s reception isn’t polite and cordial, then dealing with them can be very stressful. Remember though, just because a clinic receives a few bad reviews, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are bad. It could just be that the patients are problematic, not the staff.
Customer Support
Something else that you need to research is the clinic’s customer support team. As already mentioned, if a surgery’s reception staff aren’t high quality, then working with them can be very difficult. Reviews will tell you a lot about a surgery’s customer support staff. It’s also a good idea to speak to the surgery itself, to get an idea of what the reception staff is like. You should also research online and see what policies and procedures the surgery has in place to handle complaints, as well as if there is a practice manager’s contact information available.
Appointment Notice
It’s a good idea to also find out how much notice you have to give to make an appointment (and find out if appointments are held in person or are over the phone). Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare centres are short-staffed. This means that appointments are delayed and some surgeries are only offering telephone appointments. The clinics offering in-person same-day appointments are likely to be private ones, although some public clinics do offer these services in rural areas where staff isn’t stretched and the clinic isn’t short on appointments. Finding out how much notice you have to give will give you an idea of the surgery’s workload.
Private Healthcare
Do you want to access public healthcare or private healthcare? If you have health insurance, then you will be able to get private healthcare. Private healthcare is a great way to see your area’s finest and most qualified doctors. More often than not, the most qualified and experienced doctors go into private healthcare, because there’s more money in it for them. If you have health insurance then you will be able to access these clinics and surgeries for free, or for a significantly reduced price than if you weren’t insured and you went to go and see them.
Low-cost Treatment
Lastly, if you are not a private patient but don’t have health insurance, you might still have to pay for healthcare in Australia. However, the treatment that you do have to pay for is usually very low cost. You just have to pay to make a contribution to the surgery. Most healthcare in Australia is completely free of charge, although sometimes payments are required. It’s worth researching the surgery that you are dealing with so that you can ascertain whether or not you will have to make contributory payments.
Finding a doctor’s surgery to attend can be very difficult. If you are looking for one, then you must consider the guidance outlined in this post, so that you can make the best decision for yourself. In most areas, once you are signed up for a doctor’s surgery, you aren’t able to switch.
