Your Appointment

Booking an appointment

Call our central number for an appointment.

Fax or email your referral for direct incorporation into our electronic medical record (or ask your GP to do so – no more lost referrals!).

Phone: 1300 357 338
Fax: 1300 247 338
Email: reception@entnorth.com.au

Adult patients:

Please send your referral to us by email: reception@entnorth.com.au. For the majority of adult patients, we need the information in that referral to appropriately book your appointment. A photograph of your referral is usually adequate (but must contain all the information contained on the paper, including your referring doctor’s details).

Children as patients:

Please call our rooms on 1300 357 338, and our staff will usually be able to book your appointment with you. We still require your child’s referral by the time of their appointment and would recommend that you email this to us on reception@entnorth.com.au at the same time you call us.

Patient registration form:

Please complete the form either online or download form and email it to reception@entnorth.com.au

Additional information:

We will commonly need additional information, including possibly further tests, in order to best provide you with suitable care in a timely fashion, and reducing the costs associated with additional appointments. Our staff will tell you what is needed, and whether our surgeon or your referring doctor will organise them. Please note that we will not be able to further assess your referral or book your appointment until we receive that information.

Ear Symptoms

• If you have been referred to see us for any ear problem (except for certain urgent conditions such as ear discharge), we will need you to undergo a hearing test (‘audiogram’) prior to seeing our surgeon. This includes referrals for problems such as you feeling you have hearing loss, but also tinnitus/ringing in your ears, pressure/fullness/blockage of your ears, eustachian tube dysfunction or ear pain.
• Having this done prior to seeing our surgeon will mean we can usually confirm your diagnosis and start treatment after one appointment. If you choose not to have a hearing test when recommended we often will not be able to offer you an appointment, or we may need you to return for another appointment after having one done before we can confirm your treatment plan. This will both delay having your problem treated and cost you more money.
• A hearing test can be done with our in-house audiologist, often on the same day as your surgeon’s appointment. We are also happy to accept hearing tests from community audiologists if they have done a full hearing test (air and bone conduction) and pressure testing (‘tympanometry’). You must bring a physical copy of the hearing test with you or confirm with our staff that it was attached to your GP referral.

Tinnitus

• To assess your problem fully, we must have a formal diagnostic audiogram (not a screening hearing test) done prior to your appointment. We are happy to arrange this with our in-house audiology service at ENT North. if you have had this done externally, the result must be attached to your GP referral.
• We are not able to advise you about what care is appropriate for your tinnitus until we have this information.

Nose Symptoms

• If you have been referred for nose related symptoms and have had allergy tests, please bring a copy of the results of these tests with you to your appointment or call our staff on 1300 357 338 to confirm that we have those results attached to your GP referral.
• If you have had a CT Sinuses, please go to the imaging place you had your imaging done at and ask them to give you (not your doctor or any other third party) a CD containing your images. Please bring this to your medical appointment AND any subsequent surgery. If you leave them behind at your doctor’s clinic or hospital, please go back to the imaging centre and get another copy, as they will usually be destroyed. Please also confirm that a copy of the results has been sent to us with your referral.

Redirecting your care:

We commonly receive referrals for conditions that ENT Surgery either doesn’t treat, or where another specialty would treat your condition more effectively. In this case, we will write to you and your referring doctor redirecting you to a more appropriate service. This is because we want you to have the best possible outcome, and to reduce the cost and delay you may otherwise incur in getting to the most suitable care.

Punctuality:

At ENT North, we make every attempt to run on time, and schedule our patient appointments to achieve this.  Your being ready to start your appointment at your scheduled time is a vital part of achieving this. When someone is even a few minutes late to start their consultation, all the patients that follow them will all have their appointment delayed. We don’t think it is reasonable or respectful to expect you to be seen late if the situation was reversed.

We understand that delays can happen for all sorts of reasons. If you anticipate being late to your appointment, please call us and check with the staff if it would be possible to still see you, or if it would be necessary to reschedule your appointment. If you arrive late (even by a minute or two), we will usually need to rebook you or your child into the next available appointment slot.

If your condition requires more urgent care, then we will make every attempt to see you at lunchtime or at the end of the day. As our surgeons often have other clinical commitments in the middle or end of the day, this may not always be possible, and our staff will book an appointment for you as soon as is clinically necessary.

Your time is valuable, thank you for helping us in ensuring we do not waste it.

WorkCover, TAC or medicolegal related symptoms:

Please note that our surgeons are not credentialed to provide reports or assessments if you believe your ENT symptoms are related to an accident or work-related incident or exposure. This includes any ear symptoms that are related to unusual noise exposure where you anticipate seeking compensation (e.g. blast injuries in the community, excessively loud music performances etc). Please contact the relevant authority to get the most up-to-date contact details for an appropriately credentialed surgeon.

Any concerns about your care?

We always try to provide exceptional care for our patients. Sometimes, our patients feel we don’t reach this standard. We are very keen to work with you if you haven’t received the care that you feel you require.

Please feel free to email us on reception@entnorth.com.au so we can arrange an appointment with our Practice Manager to discuss your concerns.

We would also encourage you to call us on 1300 357 338 and we will arrange this appointment for you.