FAQ

On your first visit please allow some additional time prior to your appointment to complete your new patient documentation.

Please also bring:

• 1) Your Medicare card
• 2) Your private health insurance card/details
• 3) A copy of your referral if this has not already been sent to the clinic
• 4) A list of your medications

The results of any recent investigations – if you have recently had any radiology performed relevant to your consultation Dr Cleland will want to review these images. Please bring the hard copies if available.

You will receive a Medicare rebate for consultations and rebatable in-clinic procedures.
Private health funds do not provide rebates in a clinic setting.
Prior to your initial consultation you will receive an email detailing your appointment information and associated consultation fees.

Per AHPRA guidelines all consultations including cosmetic surgery consultations require a referral.
You do NOT require a referral if your consultation is for non-surgical treatments.

Please bring your referral (if we do not have a copy), Medicare/concession card/DVA card and any relevant audiology/pathology/radiology reports.

As well as non-invasive procedures such as nasoendoscopy and suction ear cleaning, our rooms are set up to offer biopsy, grommet insertion under local anaesthesia, earlobe reduction, earlobe repair and upper blepharoplasty.

The first step is to obtain a referral form your GP. Once you have a referral you can contact our rooms on 71320488 to schedule a consultation. We put aside 30 minutes for these consultations to ensure you have adequate time to discuss your concerns. Because of this long appointment we take pre-payment for the consultation at the time of booking.
On completion of your consultation we will provide you with a surgical fee estimate and procedure information for you to take home. If you wish to proceed with the proposed surgery, a second pre-operative consultation is required (per medical board guidelines) prior to scheduling the surgery.

When you are undergoing surgery privately, there is a fee to pay to the surgeon, the anaesthetist and the hospital. Fee estimates are provided by each organisation and you will pay each organisation separately. After your consultation, if a procedure has been proposed, we will provide you with a fee estimate for the surgeon and will send requests to the hospital and anaesthetist to provide fee estimates.

You do not need private health insurance to undergo surgery in a private setting. In fact, many patients self-fund for procedures. Without private health insurance, it just means that you will be responsible for the full fee. If you do not have health insurance and a surgical procedure has been proposed, we will include the estimates for the hospital and anaesthetist in your surgical fee estimate and information pack. The benefit of self funding is avoidance of lengthy public hospital wait times.

Once your surgery has been scheduled:
You will receive an email from us confirming your surgery date, location and a short list of tasks to complete pre-operatively such as completing your consent form and the online registration for the hospital.
Approximately 1 week prior to surgery you will receive your admission information from us. This email will confirm your arrival time, fasting requirements, medications/vitamins to cease pre-operatively, details of your post-operative appointment and other similar information. The hospital will also be in contact with you to discuss your admission.

On the day of surgery:
Present to the hospital reception on arrival. A hospital staff member will direct you through the admission process and provided instructions on how to get to your pre-op area. Dr Cleland and your anaesthetist will come to meet you before taking you through to theatre. This gives you the opportunity to confirm the surgical plan and ask any last minute questions.

Post-operative care:
Day surgery – Dr Cleland will meet with you after surgery to discuss the procedure and the post-operative care required. If you are recovering well, you will then leave the hospital the same day as the procedure and return home.

Overnight stay – You will stay in hospital the night of the surgery. Dr Cleland will visit you in the hospital the morning after surgery to talk about how the procedure went and your post-operative care. If you are recovering well, you will then be discharged.

You will leave the hospital with medications such as antibiotics and pain relief as well as a saline nasal rinse kit if you are undergoing nasal surgery. You will receive an email check in two-three days post-op detailing your expected recovery stage at this point. Our rooms will contact you 3-7 days post-operatively (depending on the procedure) to see how you are feeling and to confirm you are following the post-operative care instructions for your procedure.
After your first post-operative appointment most patients will return for subsequent appointments depending on the type of surgery undergone.
We encourage you to contact us post-operatively with any questions or concerns, even if you feel they are ‘silly.’ We want to know how you are feeling and to be aware of any signs of concern.

This depends on your procedure type. Day surgery procedures commonly include grommets, biopsies, adenoidectomy, mini FESS (functional endoscopic sinus surgery) and septal/turbinate surgery. Some procedures require an overnight stay. It is very uncommon for patient to stay longer than one night.

It is important to follow the post-operative care instructions relevant to your procedure. These are either printed and provided to you or emailed with your surgical fee estimate and information sheets.

We recommend two weeks of rest post-operatively and can provide sick certificates if requested.

Your nose might still feel tender to touch but it should not be painful. We recommend taking paracetamol (if you do not have any allergies to this medication) prior to attending your appointment.

We do not offer payment plans within our practice. A scheduling deposit is required at the time of scheduling your surgery with the balance due two weeks prior to surgery. More information on this can be found in your surgical fee estimate.