About Us
MALENY'S OLDEST INDEPENDENT DOCTOR OWNED & OPERATED GENERAL PRACTICE IS CHANGING
The Practice has been providing whole-of-life (old-fashioned 'cradle-to-grave') family medicine to our Maleny and Hinterland communities for almost 40 years under different names and in different locations since it started in the Medical Superintendent's house adjacent to the Maleny Memorial Soldiers' Hospital in 1985.
In 2007, Dr Bourne created Hinterland Health Pty Ltd and bought the Practice. Not long after, the Practice was renamed Medicine on Maple and has undergone a number of significant changes since then.
From 2024, Dr Bourne's Hinterland Health Pty Ltd will be realising a long-held dream of Medicine on Maple transforming into a modern General Practice Hub - a specialised location where Professional Business and Clinical Services are offered, in an accredited health facility, to independent General Practices through secure tenancies.
Instead of directly providing General Practice services, our Professional Administration and Nursing Teams will provide comprehensive and dedicated support to tenanted General Practices so that you have a wide variety of clinical expertise and special health interests to suit your different healthcare needs in our trusted, compassionate, and friendly environment.
Our highly qualified team is recognised locally and nationally for the provision of clinical teaching and mentoring to health students and advanced trainees in the primary care setting.
We are proud to support the tenanted General Practices in their provision of ongoing care to members of our community who require palliative support in the home or care as a resident at Erowal.
Our ongoing commitment to modern healthcare is assisted through research activities internally and externally in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service & our local PHN.
FAQS
Access to Your Records
Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the ability to request access to the medical records, kept by us, for yourself and any lawful dependents. Should you ever wish or need to access these records, please contact Reception directly with your request so that we may assist you through the legislated process and inform you of any costs that are applicable prior to your consent to proceed with your request.
Appointments
The General Practices work on a computerized system of 15-minute visit increments:
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Short <6 minutes
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Standard 15 minutes
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Long 30 minutes
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Prolonged 45 minutes
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Assessments >60 minutes
These visit lengths differ between General Practices.
Telehealth and video consultations are available at the discretion of each General Practice.
If you have any of the following, please arrange for a longer (30 mins, 45 mins or 60 mins) appointment:
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A complex or involved problem
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Multiple different problems
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Insurance or Centrelink forms
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Medical Examinations
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Assessments
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Excisions/minor surgery (after initial assessment visit with the Doctor)
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First visit when registering with us as a new patient
If you only need a script or a referral to a Specialist, you may be offered a ‘fit-in’ appointment (where you are double booked with another patient in the same timeslot) purely for the script or referral. Unfortunately, no other medical problems will be able to be attended to during this visit.
All URGENT presentations will be seen immediately. Semi-urgent conditions will be seen within the hour.
Home Visits
Home visits are available, if booked in advance, at the discretion of the General Practitioner. If you are unable or unwilling to attend the practice, a Private Fee may be applicable for a call out.
Fees
The General Practices hosted at our Hub warmly welcome new patients.
There is a once-off administration fee of $50 for new patients (and their families) registering with General Practices in the Hub. People under 16 years of age, pensioners, Healthcare Card Holders and DVA patients are exempt.
On registering, you will be provided with a ‘Welcome Pack’ and may be requested to make an appointment with one of our Nurses to go through your previous health story and any health records which you may have authorized for transfer to us.
We respect your decision to register your health care with one of the General Practices operating at our Hub.
For people under the age of 16 years and holders of valid concession cards (Health Care, Pension, DVA Gold), all Standard Consultations eligible for access to MBS & DVA rebates will be 100% Bulk Billed by the General Practices.
The General Practices in this Hub operate a Mixed Billing system for patients over 16 years of age who do not hold a valid concession card. A fee will be required to be paid for Standard Consultations (in-person, telephone and video), biopsies, and dressings.
The General Practices at Medicine on Maple provide services that are supported through the Medicare Benefits Schedule, the Department of Veterans' Affairs Schedule and WorkCover Queensland. Other services not covered by the above schemes will attract the full private fee.
All other consultation types will remain completely Bulk Billed to Medicare/DVA.
To ensure you receive your rebate directly into your account at the time of payment, please make sure your bank account details are up to date with Medicare Australia. You can update these details by visiting here:
Medicare online account help - Update your bank account details - Services Australia
Separated Parents of Minors
We are very sensitive to the stresses and legal pressures placed on parents, who have separated, with regards to the provision of our health care to their children. When parents have separated, the General Practices require certified copies of either Family Court Orders or other mutually agreed co-parenting plans that relate to the health care of the child or children in question.
Unfortunately, we are unable to become involved in custodial issues and decision-making relating to the provision of health care to minors. However, it is a protected mandatory requirement, in the State of Queensland, for every member of our General Practice Team to undertake compulsory notification, to Child Safety, should there be any level of concern for the safety of a minor (this relates to concerns involving: financial, emotional, physical, sexual and any other forms of violence).
Results, Recalls, Reminders & Reviews
Our General Practices believe that no news is good news.
However, a comprehensive system is used to ensure your wellbeing is maintained and your ongoing health is being monitored regularly in accordance with best practice evidence and guidelines.
If you have had any pathology or imaging tests ordered that come back marked ‘abnormal’ by your General Practitioner, we will contact you to make a follow-up appointment. Otherwise, we will not contact you with the results of normal tests, except for special tests (like cervical screening, breast screening and warfarin INR levels.) that require further reminders to be entered into our system.
There will also be times that you may need to be reminded of upcoming preventative screening activities, health checks, chronic disease plan reviews and appointments coming due.
Based on your recorded Contact Consent preferences and the nature of the reason for why we are needing to contact you, we will utilise one or more of the following methods:
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Telephone/Voicemail
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SMS
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Email
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Regular/Registered Post
Your Data & Research
Your confidential health records are stored digitally with robust IT security. We comply with the Australian Privacy Principles and associated Federal Legislation.
We engage with State and National Registers (i.e. Cervical Screening, Childhood Immunisations, etc). Please let us know if you do not wish to participate in these.
We also participate in health research projects through the use of deidentified aggregate data sets generated from the health records kept in our database. This deidentified information is shared with our PHN (an Initiative of the Federal Government) and NHMRC-compliant researchers from the Sunshine Coast Hospital & Health Service. If you do not wish for your deidentified data to be used in population and health service planning research, please let Reception know.
Feedback
The General Practices at our Hub are always endeavouring to look after your health and your future.
It is with pride that they constantly strive to reach the highest levels of Accreditation.
The Hub aims to provide a comprehensive range of health care needs expected in Australian primary care.
If you feel that your health needs have not been met, please ask to speak with our Hub Manager, Veronique.
Feedback, of all forms (good and bad), is always welcome.
Alternatively, if you feel that you cannot raise your concerns with our staff, please contact:
Office of the Health Ombudsman
133 646
Our Privacy Policy
Introduction
This privacy policy is to provide information to you, our patient, on how your personal information (which includes your health information) is collected and used within our Hub in support of the General Practices, and the circumstances in which we may share it with third parties.
Why and when your consent is necessary
When you register as a patient of one of the General Practices in our Hub, you provide consent for the GPs and our practice staff to access and use your personal information so they can provide you with the best possible healthcare. Only team members who need to see your personal information will have access to it. If we need to use your information for anything else, we will seek additional consent from you to do this.
Why do we collect, use, hold and share your personal information?
Our Hub will need to collect your personal information, on behalf of the General Practices, to provide healthcare services to you. Our main purpose for collecting, using, holding and sharing your personal information is to manage your health. We also use it for directly related business activities, such as financial claims and payments, system audits and accreditation, and business processes (e.g. staff training).
What personal information do we collect?
The information we will collect about you includes:
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names, date of birth, addresses, contact details
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medical information including medical history, medications, allergies, adverse events, immunisations, social history, family history and risk factors
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Medicare number (where available) for identification and claiming purposes
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healthcare identifiers
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health fund details.
Dealing with us anonymously
Whilst you have the right to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym (Australian Privacy Principle 2), it is impractical for us to do so and, as such, we can only deal with identified individuals.
How do we collect your personal information?
Our service will collect your personal information:
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When you make your first appointment our service staff will collect your personal and demographic information via your registration.
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During the course of facilitating medical services, we may collect further personal information to assist in the Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP) and voluntary participation in the MyHealth Record (MHR) system.
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We may also collect your personal information when you send us an email or telephone us.
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In some circumstances personal information may also be collected from other sources. Often this is because it is not practical or reasonable to collect it from you directly. This may include information from:
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your guardian or responsible person
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other involved healthcare providers, such as specialists, allied health professionals, hospitals, community health services and pathology and diagnostic imaging services
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your health fund, Centrelink, Medicare, WorkCover or the Department of Veteran's Affairs (as necessary)
Who do we share your personal information with?
We sometimes share your personal information:
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with third parties who work with our service for business purposes, such as accreditation agencies or information technology providers – these third parties are required to comply with APPs and this policy
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referral to other health professionals (when clinical referral software is used, only that information that is required by law and/or is considered clinically relevant by your General Practitioner will be shared)
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when it is required or authorised by law (e.g. court subpoenas)
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when it is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to a patient’s life, health or safety or public health or safety, or it is impractical to obtain the patient’s consent
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to assist in locating a missing person
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to establish, exercise or defend an equitable claim
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for the purpose of confidential dispute resolution process
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when there is a statutory requirement to share certain personal information (e.g. some diseases require mandatory notification)
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during the course of providing medical services, through Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP) and the MyHealth Record (MHR) system.
Only people that need to access your information will be able to do so. Other than in the course of facilitating medical services or as otherwise described in this policy, our service will not share personal information with any third party without your consent.
We will not share your personal information with anyone outside Australia (unless under exceptional circumstances that are permitted by law) without your consent.
Our service will not use your personal information for marketing any of our services directly to you without your express consent. If you do consent, you may opt-out of direct marketing at any time by notifying our service in writing.
Research and the use of your de-identified health information
This service participates in local, State and Federal research activities as part of its provision of improvement-led quality care and in the continuing professional development of its team members. This research requires the use of deidentified medical records: that is, the records have been stripped of all identifying data by licensed software before being aggregated and securely uploaded to government agency servers. You may opt out from having your data used in this manner by informing Reception
How do we store and protect your personal information?
Your personal information is securely stored in our password-protected electronic records system with robust Information Technology protections and sophisticated anti-intrusion measures. Any visuals (i.e. X-rays, CT Scans, etc) can only be stored for your collection for 3 months before secure destruction.
How can you access and correct your personal information at our practice?
You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
Our service acknowledges patients may request access to their medical records. We require you to put this request in writing and submit this in hard copy or by email addressed to the Hub Manager and our service will respond within 14 days. Depending on the nature of the request, there may be a fee for the cost of complying and this will be notified to you in writing.
Our service will take reasonable steps to correct your personal information where the information is not accurate or up to date. From time-to-time, we will ask you to verify your personal information held by our service is correct and up to date. You may also request that we correct or update your information, and you should make such requests in writing to the Hub Manager.
How can you lodge a privacy related complaint, and how will the complaint be handled at our Hub
We take complaints and concerns regarding privacy seriously. You should express any privacy concerns you may have in writing. We will then attempt to resolve it in accordance with our resolution procedure. Please direct your complaint to the Hub Manager by:
Post: Medicine on Maple, 7/15 Maple Street MALENY 4552
Or
Email: manager@medicineonmaple.com.au
You will receive a written response within 30 calendar days.
You may also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
For further information visit www.oaic.gov.au or call the OAIC on 1300 336 002. Alternatively, you may contact the Queensland Government’s Office of the Health Ombudsman. For further information visit www.oho.qld.gov.au or call the OHO on 133 646.
Policy review statement
This Privacy Policy is reviewed annually or sooner if Legislation changes. (Last reviewed 09/03/2024)
