Your Appointment
What to expect at your initial appointment
Your first appointment will involve:
A thorough history of your presenting problem
Review of your medical history and medications
Comprehensive clinical examination pertaining to your condition
Review of any relevant investigations you may have had (e.g. Xrays)
Following this, Dr Armstrong will discuss with you regarding the nature of your condition, as well as any further investigations required, and any proposed treatment.
Please take the time to review information relevant to your procedure on our website to assist you in understanding your condition, and helping to guide any questions you wish to ask at your appointment.
You will need to fill out a patient registration and medical history form prior to your appointment - this may be done electronically; alternatively you may also fill this out as a hard-copy form on arrival - if so please allow at least 10 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time.
Your appointment may also involve:
Clinical photographs
Organising or discussion of any investigations required outside of the practice (e.g. MRI; blood tests)
What should I bring to my initial appointment?
Referral from your Doctor or Dentist (they may have provided this directly already)
Patient registration form (you may provide this electronically, or complete on the day of your appointment - please arrive with enough time to do so prior to your appointment time)
Medicare card
Health Insurance details
A list of medications
Health Summary from your GP, if available
Any recent investigations or results
Relevant investigations or correspondence of significance (e.g. Cardiology or other specialist reports, echo)
Photo ID (we may undertake ID verification where required).
You may bring a partner or family member for your consultation. Patients under the age of 16 (or those unable to provide consent) require a consenting adult present for all appointments and treatment.
You should allow up to an hour for your first appointment, and all associated tasks. Please note that whilst we endeavour to keep to appointment times, Dr Armstrong also manages facial trauma and other emergencies, and so on occasion this may result in a delay or, on extremely rare occasions, your appointment or treatment may need to be re-scheduled.
Cancellation and late attendance policy
Please note that in order to manage the demand for appointments and ensure we can continue to see patients in a timely manner, we apply a strict policy for appointment cancellations, late attendances and no-shows.
Any cancellation or re-booking within 24 hours of your appointment will require a non-refundable pre-payment of the consult fee in order for any further appointments to be booked.
We run a tight schedule in order to accommodate a high volume of referrals and demand for appointments, but always endeavour to run on time. We are unable to accept late attendance for both appointments and procedures. A late presentation to your appointment may result in cancellation of your appointment or surgery, or your appointment needing to be re-scheduled for a later date, at our discretion. A non-refundable re-booking fee will apply if you request to schedule a further appointment following late attendance.
In the event of multiple cancellations, no-shows, late attendance or repeated requests to re-book appointments, we may return your referral to your referring practitioner.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us on reception@northcoastmaxfacs.com.au or check out our Frequently Asked Questions here