FAQ

Our opening hours are from 8.30am until 5.00pm Monday to Friday. We are not open on weekends or public holidays. You can leave a message and our staff will endeavour to return your call as soon as they can.

You are not required to have a referral. However, most patients are referred from their GP or another specialist which makes them eligible for a Medicare refund. If you do not have a referral you will not be eligible for a Medicare refund on any visit.

Your physio or podiatrist can refer you. However you will not be eligible for a Medicare refund on any visit. Therefore, we recommend bringing a referral from your GP so you will be eligible for a Medicare refund.

Your initial consultation is $250 and you will receive $84.15 from Medicare if you have a valid and current referral.

Review consultations are $125 and you will receive $42.30 back from Medicare if you have a valid and current referral.

Private Health Insurance does not cover any portion of the fee.

Your initial consultation is $300 and you will receive $84.15 from Medicare if you have a valid and current referral.

Review consultations are $150 and you will receive $42.30 back from Medicare if you have a valid and current referral.

Private Health Insurance does not cover any portion of the fee.

Second opinion consultations are time consuming and usually require collation and review of many investigations. Your initial consultation is $400 and you will receive $84.15 from Medicare if you have a valid and current referral.

Review consultations are $150 and you will receive $42.30 back from Medicare if you have a valid and current referral.

Private Health Insurance does not cover any portion of the fee.

Yes, settlement of your account is required on the day of your consultation. We take payments of cash, EFTPOS, and credit card (not American Express or Diners).

Dr Blythe will need to be able to examine the relevant region(s). You should wear or bring with you a change of clothing that will enable easy examination of the region(s) while maintaining a degree of modesty.

Shorts are ideal, tight jeans are not.

Depending on where you had your imaging taken and when, this may be required. Dr Blythe will generally review your referral and previous imaging prior to your appointment. You will be contacted prior to your appointment if further imaging is required. This is to save you additional appointments to organise tests.

Dr Blythe can care for you irrespective of your insurance status. If you require an operation and do not have private health insurance, we can provide this at Joondalup Health Campus. There is a waitlist for public funded surgery.

Before you are given an operation date, you will be provided with a quote for your surgery fee. Your quote will depend on both the type of surgery you require and the level of health insurance you have. The fee is relative to Dr Blythe only and will cover your first six weeks post operative care.

Your operation, anaesthetist, surgical assistant and bed stay will cost nothing. Dr Blythe can only offer publicly funded operations at Joondalup Health Campus. Post operative follow up consultations will be charged as review consultations and a portion can be claimed from Medicare.

Some or all of your operation may be performed by a registrar depending on their experience. A registrar is a trainee surgeon who is a fully qualified doctor. If Dr Blythe is not performing all of your operation he will be present in theatre supervising your operation. This would not necessarily occur at a publicly run hospital.

There is no specific or minimum waiting time but it is typically three to 12 months. How quickly your surgery happens depends on how many patients are already waiting for operations and their urgency. The North Metropolitan Health Service restricts the number of operations that can be performed at Joondalup Health Campus. As a result there are only certain lists at Joondalup Health Campus on which Dr Blythe can perform public funded surgery. Unfortunately these cannot be increased according to workload.

We will endeavour to provide you with at least six weeks notice. Public surgery is restricted by Joondalup Hospital to only being performed on certain lists, which means your surgery may need to be postponed at short notice due to urgent public cases.

No

Dr Blythe does not see patients for medico-legal reports.

Some health insurance funds provide much better contributions or rebates to the costs of your surgical procedure than others. Dr Blythe can not recommend one fund over another but you can request quotes for the rebates on specific item numbers from different health funds.

Under current Australian Law you are able to change your health insurance fund, with no loss of cover, at any time you choose. When you change funds you may be eligible for a refund of any unused premiums that you have already paid. In order to receive a refund you must remain at the same level of cover and not upgrade to a higher level of cover.

Providing there is no gap in your coverage when you change fund, the coverage from the new fund will begin immediately. You can, therefore, change health insurance companies even after you have decided to go ahead with the surgical procedure. This potentially offers you the opportunity to reduce your out-of-pocket expenses.

This brochure from the Commonwealth Ombudsman may help: click here