About Us

Banksia Medical Centre accepts both walk-in patients and pre-booked appointments. Please be aware that there may be a wait for walk-in patients, as patients with appointments and urgent cases will be treated with priority.

Our standard appointments are between 10-20mins depending on which Doctor you are seeing. Some services like care plans, health assessments, skin checks or when there are multiple or complex issues to discuss, will require a long appointment.

Each patient is free to choose which Doctor they would like to see for their health care. Please let us know which doctor you would prefer to see and we will make every effort to accommodate your wishes.

Sometimes a Doctor may choose to close their books, if they feel their list of patients has reached its capacity.

We will always endeavour to make sure there is a doctor available to look after your needs. Should you be unable to see your regular GP, please note that all of our Doctors have equal access to your medical records and notes.

Our Doctors do not take phone calls during consultations unless the situation is deemed urgent. All messages will be directed via Reception who will pass them on to your doctor.

It is unsafe for a Doctor to consult on an illness over the phone, but they may be happy to return your call to discuss certain results or provide important information.

Our staff are able to give most results over the phone, with the Doctor’s permission, however your Doctor may ask you to come in for a consult to discuss certain results; especially if there are follow-up actions needed.

Results that have not first been checked by a Doctor cannot be given.

Medical certificates can be provided by your GP during or following a consultation.

It is illegal for a Doctor to backdate a medical certificate, however they may be able to support your reason for previous time off work/study if the nature of your injury/illness suggests so. Please try to present early in your illness should you require a certificate.

Referrals generally last for 1 year, and our Doctors will require a consult with you should a new referral be needed. A lot can happen in 1 year, so it is extremely important that the information on your referral is up-to-date.

Any injury sustained during work should be treated as a Worker’s Compensation Claim. An initial visit should be booked as a long consult, as there is a bit of paperwork your Doctor will need to organise with you.

You will be asked to sign a Worker’s Comp agreement form at reception, and will be offered a free “Guide for Employees” handbook. This guide has important information about your rights and how the Worker’s Compensation process works.

Banksia Medical Centre looks after Banksia patients as much as possible, however there may be the odd occasion where our Doctors are unable to treat you personally. In these uncommon circumstances you will be looked after by the Doctor on call at the Hospital.

The records are the notes the doctor makes to assist themselves or other doctors at the surgery.

Medical records are the property of the doctor or practice attended, but you have a right to the information contained in the records. Therefore although they do not belong to the patient, you are entitled to access the contents. This is backed by Commonwealth Privacy Legislation.

By your attendance to see the doctor, you have implicitly given him or her permission to take notes about the consultation.

Our friendly reception team will help you fill out a Request form, which will be sent to your previous GP.

Please note that all family members over 18yo will need to sign this form, and that your previous GP may charge a fee for sending copies of your medical records.

A Request form will need to be filled out and signed at your new surgery, which will then be sent to us for processing.

In accordance with our transfer procedure, a health summary will be sent free of charge, as soon as we receive your request. We will then attempt to reach you by post or by phone to inform you of the fees should you wish to transfer a copy of your complete medical records.

Some Medical Centres may charge a fee for handling and copying your records which is backed by MDA National, but should reflect only the administrative costs involved.

Banksia does charge a small fee for records.

Fees for transferring medical records have not been common in Esperance until more recently, as there had been little or no choice in who a patient was able to see.