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Communication Policy

Email Communication - Patient Information

Our practice welcomes Email feedback about your experience at Gold City Medical Centre or Charters Towers Respiratory Clinic.

Compliments and positive feedback are gratefully received.

Suggestions about improving our services are appreciated, and we will respond to these within two weeks.

Complaints about your experience will be notified to the practice owners with 24 hours and a formal response should occur within two weeks.

We do not provide scripts or personal health advice via email and should these be requested, our reception staff will contact you to organise an appointment with your Doctor.

Patients emailing the practice via the practice website.

The practice advises patients via the practice website of the risks of sending clinical information via unencrypted email. The message addresses the issue of patient choice, including the ability of patients to choose what medium of communication to be used to send their own personal information to them. A suggested auto reply would be along the lines of:

"This email address is not regularly monitored and is not our preferred means of communication. There is a risk that important clinical information sent to this address may be missed or not picked up, particularly time critical information. In addition, we urge all patients to carefully consider the issue of security before sending medical information via unencrypted email. The alternative methods for communicating clinical information are below, although please do not use normal post for forwarding time critical information. We encourage patients to phone the practice or make an appointment to discuss clinical issues."

Social Media Communication - Patient Information

Our practice communicates with our community through Social Media communication.

We use social media through posting updates and public notices in Facebook Charters Towers Community Discussion page. This particular social media accounts reaches the majority of patients in Charters Towers and surrounding areas.

We welcome feedback about your experience at Gold City Medical Centre or Charters Towers Respiratory Clinic, however we prefer your Feedback directly to the surgery email address, .

Compliments and positive feedback are gratefully received.

We do not respond to any comments made on social media about our service, whether positive or negative.

We do not provide scripts or personal health advice via Social Media requests and should these be required you should contact our practice via telephone or the Hoddoc booking system to make an appointment with your Doctor.

Telephone Communication

Telephone calls from patients will not generally be put through to doctors. Our reception staff are happy to take messages or assist you with any general questions regarding your healthcare. If you have a medical question after seeing one of our doctors, you can speak with the nurse and she will discuss your concerns with the doctor. Normally, our nurses will return your call later the same day. If you have an urgent medical problem then our nurses will try to organise an urgent appointment with one of our doctors. Emails and Facsimiles are reviewed on a daily basis.

Should you have any feedback regarding your care, we have a suggestion box in the waiting room. Alternatively, you may speak with our practice manager, Donna McIntosh. If you have any concerns about the care from your doctor, please immediately discuss this with your doctor so that your concerns can be managed. Should you have ongoing concerns, then we are happy to offer you a second opinion from another doctor at the practice. We are always trying to improve our service, and are happy to address any written complaints from our patients.