Online Bookings

Online appointments with a practitioner can be made by clicking on the “Online Bookings” icon. This service is available 24 hours a day subject to availability. Online bookings can also be made from the HotDoc smart phone app, which is available on the Apple App Store. After downloading the app please register and nominate Armstrong Street Medical Centre as your general practice and allow notification so that you can receive SMS appointment reminders and notifications. For phone bookings, please call the clinic on 9699 4333 to make an appointment.

New Patients

It is essential that the doctor is provided with your accurate and up to date personal health information in order to provide you with personalised health care advice. For an initial appointment it is recommended that new patients arrive at least ten minutes prior to the booked appointment time in order to register and complete a personal health information questionnaire.

Appointment Times

• Standard appointments are booked at 15 minutes intervals. This will usually be adequate to deal with a single health issue.
• When attending for an appointment, please advise the reception staff on your arrival.
• Patients can request their preferred doctor.
• We do accommodate for walk-in patients subject to availability.
• Priority appointments will always be provided for emergencies, sick children and same day urgent reviews.

Emergencies

Emergencies do arise from time to time, and these will be given priority. If your condition is of an urgent matter, please notify the reception staff on your arrival.

Longer Consultations

Longer appointments are required for more than one medical problem, complex problems, women’s health checks, surgical procedures, full health checks, mental health sessions and initial antenatal visits. If you anticipate that a longer consultation is required, please advise our reception staff at the time of making an appointment.

Travel Medicine Consultations

The doctors can provide travel advice. It is recommended that you attend two months prior to travel to determine whether travel vaccinations are required, to plan the vaccination administration intervals and to discuss your travel needs. At this consultation it is requested that you provide a list of your previous vaccinations including the date of administration, and the travel itinerary including the list of places to be visited and the length of time in each destination.

Childhood Immunisations

Appointments for childhood immunisations are booked during sessions that the practice nurse is available to assist the doctor. Please notify the reception staff at the time of making the appointment that the booking is for a childhood vaccination so that this can be scheduled. All patients receiving immunisations should be aware that it is recommended that they remain for observation at least 15 minutes after the immunisation is administered.

Influenza Vaccinations

New patients or patients without a Medicare card attending for a flu vaccine should note that private fees apply for their GP consultation. The clinic bulk bills existing patients of the clinic for GP consultations on weekdays when the nurse is available to assist the doctor if the following applies: the consultation is only for a flu vaccine, and the patient is an existing registered patient of the practice who has attended for a GP consultation at the clinic in the past and the patient has a current Medicare card. The practice can provide flu vaccinations to patients for a private fee subject to availability. Flu vaccines are provided free by the government for eligible patients.

Medical Reports

Medical examinations and reports for legal, insurance, superannuation, travel, vehicle licences and employment purposes require longer appointments depending on their complexity. The costs of these reports are not covered by Medicare and a private fee will apply. The fee for the report will be determined by the doctor and depend on the complexity and length of time required to complete the report. It is requested that a copy of all of the documentation is provided to the clinic in advance so that the doctor can determine the length of time required to perform the report, the appropriate time to book the assessment and the estimated cost of the report can be provided prior to the appointment being made. The doctor may require pre-payment prior to this being booked at a time suitable for the doctor.

After Hours Services

For emergency after hours care, call the ambulance on “000’ or attend the nearest Emergency Department.

Dr Noel Leon provides after-hours services for existing registered patients of the practice who have attended in the past 12 months. This service attracts a private fee. As part of this service, phone and video telehealth appointments are available on Saturday and Sunday mornings, subject to availability, for patients who have attended for an in-clinic GP consultation in the past 12 months, as per Medicare rules for telehealth consultations. These sessions can be booked online by pressing on the Online Bookings tab to the left, or using the HotDoc smartphone app. For other after-hours services please call the clinic on 9699 4333 after-hours and a recorded message will provide you with our updated after-hours contact details, or if you would prefer to access this information online press on the "GP: After-Hours Telehealth" HotDoc booking icon for updated after-hours contact details. Please note a higher Medicare rebate applies for video appointments than phone appointments over 20 minutes, so if there is more than one medical problem of it the matter is complex, it is recommended to book a video appointment so patients are less out of pocket for longer consultations.

Emergency Services

Medical Emergencies, particularly those that are life threatening, are best dealt with by the Emergency Services, and if you are in doubt it is advisable to contact “000” and ask for an ambulance to attend. The nearest Emergency Department to the clinic is The Alfred Hospital located at Commercial Road Melbourne, phone number 9276 3405.

Practice Nurse

In certain circumstances, such as gynaecological examinations, immunisations or surgical procedures, the practice nurse may be required by the doctor to assist during the consultation. It is recommended that in these circumstances, that you advise the receptionist of this at the time of making the booking, so that an appropriate appointment time can be booked for you with both the doctor and the practice nurse. Our practice nurses have their own appointment book so that they can undertake blood tests, dressings, immunisations and chronic disease management activities in conjunction with the doctors.

Cancellation and Missed Appointments

It is requested that general practice appointments be cancelled the day prior to the appointment using the HotDoc app or by calling reception during opening hours on 9699 4333. General practice appointments that are not cancelled the day prior, or failure to attend an appointment will incur a cancellation fee of $40 for a 15-minute appointment and $80 for a 30-minute appointment.