The Dover Medical Centre provides a general practice with Dr Patrick O’Sullivan, Dr Lucy Winterbottom and Dr Lachlan Grueber.
The Dover Medical Centre provides a wide array of information and services is easily accessible and has a philosophy to provide thoughtful medical care to families by keeping up-to-date with medical innovations and bringing you efficient personal service.
The Dover Medical Centre is owned and operated by the Huon Valley Council which is committed to the provision of a safe work environment for all its employees and citizens.
Location
Dover Medical Centre is located at 15 Chapman Avenue, Dover. There is ample parking provided.
Business Hours
The Medical Centre is open during the following hours:
Monday – Friday: 8.45am – 4.45pm
Appointments: Can be made from 8.45am
Phone: 03 6124 2505
Fax: 03 6213 1933
Our Centre provides home visits to patients who live within a 10 kilometre radius of our Centre and have no transport or means of travelling to the Centre. Visits are undertaken of an evening unless the patient’s needs are such that a midday visit is required. Should you require a home visit please notify the staff during the morning.
There is an Afterhours Service available through a cooperative with the Geeveston Medical Centre. Information on how to access the afterhours service can be obtained by ringing the Centre.
Outside of normal hours, on weekends and public holidays, emergency care is provided via the After Hours Doctor’s Service.
For all after hours advice always ring the Dover Medical Centre number (03) 6298 1222 and follow the instructions on the recorded message. The Health Direct number is 1800 022 22 22
The Tasmanian Ambulance provides 24 hour cover for Accidents and Emergencies – ring 000 for this service.
After hours care is available from the Royal Hobart Hospital free of charge – (03) 6222 8308.
The Hobart Private (03) 6214 3000, Calvary Hospital (03) 6278 5333 and St Johns Hospital (03) 6223 7444 also provide Accident and Emergency care. In the case of these hospitals you should check their current charges and levies before attendance.
Appointment System
Consultation is by appointment. The reception opens at 8.30am on week days and appointments can be made from 8.45am. The staff will make every effort to accommodate your preferred time. Emergencies will always be given priority and the staff will make you aware of any known delays. Some medical problems require a longer consultation time and you will assist us greatly by indicating to the staff whenever you require a longer appointment.
Booking a long appointment is important for more complex problems – insurance medical, health review, counselling, a second opinion etc. This may involve a longer wait. Please bring all relevant information.
Please notify us if you are unable to attend an appointment well in advance.
If more than one person from your family wishes to see the doctor at the same time, please ensure a separate appointment is made for each family member.
Time is valuable to all of us. If you fail to attend appointments without adequate explanation, we cannot guarantee you future booked appointments.
We aim to make your time at the Medical Centre as pleasant as possible. You can read the up-to-date magazines or simply relax in the warm and comfortable atmosphere of the waiting room. Furthermore, there is a kids’ play area for the little ones to enjoy.
Fees
We are a private billing practice. Patients will still receive the Medicare rebate, however, a gap or out of pocket fee will now be charged by the practice. Vulnerable groups, such as pensioners, Health Care Card holders and children under the age of 16 will have a reduced out of pocket fee for consultations. Huon Valley Medical Services will continue to bulk bill all Health Assessments and Chronic Disease Management Plans.
All fees are payable at the time of consultation. Payment can be made by cash, cheque, credit card or EFTPOS.
Services
Services available include home visits, hospital and nursing home visits, full check-ups, family planning, pap smears, pregnancy testing, shared antenatal care, ECG’s, hearing testing, respiratory function testing, counselling, travel medicine and vaccinations, childhood immunisations, minor surgery, sports medicine, cryotherapy, nutritional advice and skin checks. Driver’s exams and other medicals are available.
Patient Contact
In our Centre, GP’s and clinical staff receive and return telephone calls and messages between patient appointments or after surgery depending on urgency.
Patient Health Information and Reminder System
Patient health records are managed through our Medical Director system and we provide a recall and reminder service. We also encourage patients to provide information to State and Federal Registers for screening and appropriate follow up of results.
Other
Referrals – Doctors in this practice are competent at handling common health problems. When necessary, they can use opinions from specialists. You can discuss this openly with your doctor.
Your comments on our medical services are always welcome – We strive to improve for your benefit. Please direct any queries or complaints to the Council’s Manager Medical Services by telephoning 6264 0364 or email mmcpherson@huonvalley.tas.gov.au
Translation Services – For patients who speak languages other than English the Translation and Interpreter Service (TIS) is available. For patients who are deaf, information is provided through the National Relay Service (NRS)
Despite our best intentions – we sometimes run late! This is because someone has needed unexpected urgent attention. Thank you for your consideration.
Telephone advice – Most problems are best dealt with in consultation. A doctor is available during normal surgery hours for emergency advice. Our staff are experienced in deciding the appropriate response to any phone request.
Medical record confidentiality – Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain the security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff. We abide by the Privacy Act.
Reminder system – Because our practice is committed to preventative care, we may send you an occasional reminder regarding health services appropriate to your care. If you wish to opt out of this, please let us know.
Test results – It is your responsibility to ensure you follow-up test results, particularly when practice staff or your doctor stress that you do this. Ask reception staff about the best way to go about it.
Health Complaints Contact
Health Complaints Commissioner & Ombudsman
GPO Box 960 Tel: 1800 001 170
HOBART TAS 7001
Health Complaints Commissioner & Ombudsman
Your Privacy is important to us
Personal Information and your Doctor
The Federal Privacy Act
The Federal Privacy Act incorporates 13 Australia Privacy Principles (APPs) that set out the rules for the handling of personal information in the private sector: View the 13 APPs here
COLLECTING INFORMATION
It is necessary for us to collect personal information from you in order to attend to your health needs and for administration purposes.
OPENESS
If you would like more information on the type of personal information and how we hold, collect, use and disclose information, please ask your doctor or the Practice Manager.
TRANSBORDER DATA FLOW
Your privacy is protected nationally by the privacy laws. Cygnet Medical Services will take steps to protect patient privacy if information is to be sent interstate or outside Australia.
USE AND DISCLOSURE
Your personal health information is used or disclosed only for the purposes directly related to your health providers who are involved with your care. There may be some circumstances when information may be disclosed without the patients consent, these include:
- Emergencies
- Providing Medicare, Hobart Pathology, Regional Imaging, Private Health providers, with information for billing and rebate purposes.
- By law, doctors are sometimes required to disclose information for the public interest, e.g. Mandatory reporting of communicable diseases.
- It may be necessary to disclose your personal health information to fulfil medical indemnity insurance obligations.
Your details, medical records and consultations within Dover Medical Services are kept strictly confidential. Generally, your health information is only accessed by authorised personnel and will not be released without your written permission. Only de‐identified data may be used for research purposes.
DATA SECURITY
Your personal health information is securely stored and only accessed when necessary for your care. Your consent is required when transferring to another practice. Your new doctor will arrange this with you. Your records are held for a minimum of seven (7) years after your last attendance or up to the age of 25 years for your child.
IDENTIFIERS
These are how we identify you without using your name, e/g Medicare number. We will limit the use of identifiers assigned to patients by Commonwealth Government agencies to fulfil our obligations to those agencies.
ANONYMITY
Dover Medical Services will give you the opportunity to remain anonymous when requesting a health service, as long as it is lawful and practicable for you to do so.
SENSITIVE INFORMATION
Your personal health information is sensitive information. This means that generally your consent will be sought to collect health Information that is necessary to make an accurate medical diagnosis, for appropriate treatment and preventative health care.
DATA QUALITY
Dover Medical Services will maintain a full, accurate and up‐to‐date health summary. It will not contain any derogatory, prejudicial or irrelevant statements about the patient.
ACCESS & CORRECTION
You have access to the information contained in your personal medical record. You are free to ask the doctor about any aspect of your health care including information in your medical record or request changes to your medical information. You will need to discuss this with the doctor. Information can be provided to you with an up to date summary of your care. You may request access to your personal medical record but your doctor will need to remove any information provided by others on a confidential basis. Your doctor will also need to consider the risk of any physical or mental harm to you or any other person which may result from disclosure of your personal health information. You may be charged an administration fee for the provision of this information. Personal information is accessed only by authorised staff.
Work with us!
Find out more about Huon Valley Council Medical Careers.