What You Need to Know about Your Initial Visit to Gold Coast Physio & Sports Health

Thank you for trusting your Health Care with Gold Coast Physio & Sports Health

We are otherwise fondly known in the GC community as the Team at mygcphysio

Our goal is simple- it’s to Help You achieve your goals

 

 

Thank You for taking the time to read this important information to make sure you get the full benefits from choosing us:

1. Please Complete our online form (link above) so we get to know you & you understand our policies

If you can’t complete them before your appointment, arrive 10min prior to your appointment time to complete the information in clinic (this is the same form in appointment confirmation email so you only need to complete it once)

After completing some basic information in Clinic, you will receive an Introduction & Welcome Pack from our Friendly Frontdesk Team. We want you to feel Welcome and Special every time you attend our Clinics.

Your Friendly Therapist will come find you, greet you & ask how they can Help you.

Your initial appointment looks like this:

  • Exercise Testing with Harriet Brown Gold CoastYour Therapist will discuss your reason/s for attending (your Goals of Treatment)
  • A further discussion around your injury/pain/symptom history
  • An Objective Assessment
    • This involves moving & testing you. Your Therapist will keep you draped/clothed as much as possible and will at all times gain your consent for testing, assessment and intervention.
    • Please wear suitable clothes that allow us to see your area of concern (we suggest a fuller bra or sport bra for females and full underwear – ie g-strings are not ideal. Our aim will be to keep you as covered as possible while still allowing this assessment to be thorough)
  • Provide you with a plan around how we will help you achieve your goal of treatment.
    • Your Therapist should provide you with a personalised recommended action plan (PRAP) to take home so you have information to refer back to.
  • An opportunity for you to to Ask Questions
  • If time permits, treatment/exercises will be initiated in this first appointment
    • For Massage/Myotherapy & Strength and Conditioning, you will receive hands-on therapy or exercises for the rest of the appointment time.

Please note that your Therapist is required by law to complete a treatment record of your appointment, and follow-up communication may be sent- with your consent- to your doctor/ coach/ trainer/ other person. Your Therapist may use some of you appointment time to do this if this communication is essential to achieving your goal.

2. Mobile Phones

Out of respect for others within the practice, please aim to put your phone on silent during appointments.

3. Excellence in Health Services & Making Your Appointments

Your Therapist will discuss the ideal Journey to help you achieve your goals. These goals will be best reached if you understand the Personalised Recommended Action Plan (PRAP) given to you.

Follow-up appointments can be scheduled as far in advance as suits you & your Therapist will do their very best to make sure you having an understanding of time-frames for your Healthcare Journey.

Appointments can be made:

    • at the time of consult
    • online via our website 24/7 (some Therapists are not available online so please phone us for appointments)
    • on the phone (07 5500 6470) from 7.30am-7pm weekdays & 8am-2pm Saturday
    • we do offer Telehealth appointments if you prefer (or are unable) to attend in clinic

 

4. After Treatment Care & Advice

Following a physio, massage or new exercise treatment it is quite common to notice some soreness, discomfort and/or fatigue for up to 2 days. You may feel tender to touch (as if you have been mildly bruised), stiff, or tired and lethargic.

It is not our aim to cause you soreness or discomfort during or after your treatments, and your therapist will aim to keep this to a minimum.

Despite this, you are likely to encounter a greater reaction to treatment if:
– you are new to treatment,
– you have had Myofascial Dry Needling as part of your treatment,
– you lead a fairly sedentary lifestyle.

If you experience this, don’t panic!! This soreness/fatigue is perfectly normal & Your Welcome Pack includes ideas on how to minimise your reaction & enhance the recovery process following treatment.

With continued treatment, your body will get used to the treatment effects so you should experience a less dramatic post-treatment reaction over time.

You can expect a call from our team the day following your Initial Appointment to ask if you have any concerns or new questions.

It is very important to us that you are getting the most from your visits to Gold Coast Physio & Sports Health, so please let us know if you are not 100% happy, or if you have any feedback to pass on to your Therapist.

5. Changes of Appointment, Cancellations & Missed Appointments

We all hate being billed a cancellation fee for a service we don’t receive- seems unfair, right?

Equally, it’s unfair on our Team when we are busy fitting in appointments (where our Therapists may stay back late, start early or move clients around to accommodate a booking request), then someone changes an appointment with late notice, or does not show up.

We also think its unfair to have to give 48hrs notice of an appointment change with the busy lives we all lead today, so we have tried to come-up with a policy that is as fair as possible to everyone.

So, in fairness to everyone wanting an appointment & to avoid a fee, we do employ a strict change of appointment / cancellation of appointment policy requiring you to notify us of a change by no later than 5pm the day prior to you scheduled appointment (& 2days notice for Pilates or BeActive exercise sessions).

We do aim to confirm appointments via email (2days prior to your appointment) and then SMS text (the day prior), or you can request a phone call, however this is an additional service so please do not rely on this reminder.

The Fee for a change of appointment after 5pm on the day prior to your scheduled appointment if we cannot fill the appointment (or within 2days for BeActive & Pilates sessions) is:
• Standard Appointments: $40*
• Small Group BeActive / Pilates: $25*

If you do not show at your appointment, you will be charged the full fee schedule for your non-attendance. (On paying this full fee however, your Therapist will use your paid time to create a useful resource for you – this may be useful stretches, area’s to focus on for self massage, trigger-point, education or referrals).

Workers compensation & Veterans Affairs (DVA) clients please note: As your Insurer or Government Department does not cover cancellation fees, this cancellation policy continues to apply to you personally. Any cancellation fee will therefore be billed to you directly in accordance with this policy.

*We retain the right for these fees to be debited from any credit you may have on your account.

Call us on 07 55006470 for appointment changes.

We appreciate your consideration of this when making your appointment times.

6. Payment for Services

Payment for private & Medicare clients is requested at the time of service.

Eftpos & direct Health Fund Rebate facilities are available in the practice. We will email your receipt to help save paper unless you request otherwise.

Medicare rebates can be processed in Clinic, however, as we do not bulk bill Medicare clients, you will be required to pay the small gap. We do not Bulk Bill for a few reasons:

  • you will have extended (45min or 30min) consults with us to ensure we help you (most Bulk Billing clinics give you 15-20min appointments)
  • the extensive experience our Therapy Team has. You will have some of the best Physio’s, Massage & Exercise Physiologists in the country working with you.
  • Medicare only pays us a minimal amount that is not reflective of the above factors
  • Read more in our FAQ’s

Please call us if you have any concerns about this.

Workcover & Veteran Affairs accounts: On your initial visit we will confirm your claim has been accepted. Your accounts will then be sent directly to the appropriate body. Should your claim not yet be approved, not be accepted or ceased during treatment, you will be personally liable for your account.

7. Our Commitment to Your Privacy

This practice adheres to National Privacy Recommendations & a copy of our full Privacy Policy is available for you to view on your request. Your Health Information & Health Record is collected & may be disclosed for the following reasons: for communicating with you & other health professionals about you; for communicating with third party insurers; disease notification as required by law, or for legal disclosure as required by a court of law. If you have any concerns or wish to restrict access to your information, please discuss this with your treating health professional.

8. Keeping in Touch With You for Your Benefit

Everyone hates spam emails- us included!

But we do encourage you to keep a look out for our emails that contain great information and free advice & we would love for you to “unjunk” us (info@mygcphysio.com.au).

We love feedback to help us be better! So after your initial appointment we send you a Thank You email that also has a link to a Feedback Survey.

We appreciate 60sec of your time to complete this survey in advance AND by completing it, you go into the draw to win a FREE massage (no strings attached!). 

If you don’t get the email, you can complete the Feedback Survey by coming back to this email & CLICKING HERE.

Did you know you can get great benefits & tips from us on Social Media:

9. We really value you & any referrals you send us

Did you know we are a local GC family business established in 2008 from scratch? This means we do not have the support of being a franchised business and we work hard every day to create the best outcomes for YOU as an individual.

It also means we rely on you telling your family, friends, teammates and work colleagues about us so we can continue to do what we do best- and that is, help Gold Coasters achieve their goals!

So if you like what we do, the best Gift you can give us is to recommend us.

And to Thank You for any referrals you send us,

we will Gift you back a $10 Voucher to use in Clinic.

To add a little excitement to your life, we send this Gift via snail mail (we figure no-one gets snail-mail these days so it should be fun for you to receive something this way!) We don’t add many Terms & Conditions to this Gift so check it out!

Thank you again for trusting us to help YOU and the people around you

Yours in Great Health,

Britt Caling, Albie Firley & the Gold Coast Physio & Sports Health Team

© 2024 MyGC Physio. All rights reserved.