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At Ocean Surgical we aim to maintain continuity of care for all of our patients.
Most people come referred to Ocean Surgical. Referral is an important process, as it leads to two principal actions...
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It defines that there is a principal, overall carer for you as a whole person (medical GP) or specifically of your mouth (dental GP), and
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It allows you to attract Medicare and insurance benefits for a wide range of processes, including consultations, surgical treatments, investigative x-rays and reviews.
If you do not have a primary GP, we will seek to recommend one for you.
Referral seems a simple process, but in effect it represents a temporary transferral of care from your referring GP to a specialist doctor. Equally important to referral is the opposite process, called discharge.
The principal aim of discharge is to maintain continuity of care. Care continuity aims to make sure your GP knows...
- That your condition has been diagnosed and effectively treated, and
- That specialist treatment is being coordinated with other GP treatment, or with other specialists, or
- That treatment has not been provided, and needs to be followed up by the referring GP.
As the patient, you can elect for discharge at any time. Most people either get discharged on the basis of...
- That their disease has been diagnosed, and effectively treated, or
- The patient elects not to pursue further treatment or review processes, and specifically asks for discharge, or
- The patient is discharged after 3 months from the initial consultation to prevent "treatment limbo" arising.
Treatment limbo is rare. Limbo occurs because the patient wants treatment for their condition, but effectively delays it for an interminable period due to financing problems, or personal timetable conflicts.
Treatment limbo is potentially disastrous for a patient. It often means that the original disease conditions evolves, with treatment processes unfortunately becoming more complex (and expensive).
Before your consultation you will be consenting to the practice's right to discharge you automatically at 3 months if you have not yet received proposed treatment. This end point period is important, as it leads the practice to writing to your referring GP informing them that your condition still exists, that treatment has not occurred, and that you need follow up (by them) of your condition.
The practice secretaries will routinely call to remind you to seek a treatment appointment at times that you agree to. It is however unfair to request the practice to contact you every week for 3 months... So we set a maximum limit of two phone calls in three months, before we are obliged to discharge you.
Discharge does not mean that our doctors will not see you again. We are obliged to maintain your unaltered treatment record (including x-rays) for 7 years (after the age of 18 years), so we will always be here to treat your condition.
If you are discharged for any reason, you need to be re-referred to the practice. Re-referral guarantees that you are still under the care of a primary GP, and that you are still eligible to receive Medicare and private insurance rebates.
We look forward to seeing you...
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