The short answer is we would dearly love to, but can’t.

Bulk billing rebates have been historically kept very low by successive governments, and not indexed to inflation, which means year on year the amount the government contributes to appointments has gone down.

Simply put, many GP practices have closed down over the years because they simply couldn’t afford to keep operating with reducing income. No business could.

The Government announced that they would introduce a “Bulk Billing incentive” to encourage more practices to bulk bill. This amounts to $5.49 per standard bulk billed appointment, split evenly between the practice and the GP, meaning instead of the $104 that we believe our services costs to provide, the government would offer us $46.64. That shortfall of almost $60 is intolerable. The only way any practice could sustain that level of loss is to reduce appointment times from 15 minutes down to 5 minutes, and attempt to see 2-3 times the number of patients. That means a massive degradation in the service we provide to you, and ultimately harms the excellent levels of care we aspire to provide.

We took the approach that we have a high standard for the care that we (and you) expect our Doctors to provide, and the provision of those quality services and care requires more time and therefore money. In order to make that time available to you, we worked out the fees that you pay, and we publish them honestly and openly on our website.  And the results speak for themselves.

We are not profit-driven, and have made sure that we provide a quality, luxury service that you have come to expect from us and we offer benefits such as Quick Scripts (no appointment needed), telehealth, free coffee and the luxurious waiting lounge that you all enjoy, not to mention all the hidden things like state-of-the-art medical examination and assessment equipment, the very best quality and talented staff as well as hand-picked doctors who are passionate about being the best.

We provide 15 minute appointment slots, not the 5 or 10 you can expect elsewhere, and ultimately we want to build a lasting relationship with you that stands the test of time and allows us to be your specialist for life.  We also offer discounts to children, seniors and veterans, purely because we believe that people who are most at risk or marginalised should not be prevented from accessing our services for financial reasons.

Bulk billing and large, impersonal corporate services do exist, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

In short, we believe our gaps are fair and transparent, and whenever the Government increases rebates we promise to pass this on to our patients rather than pocketing the difference, keeping your costs as reasonable as we can possibly afford to make them.

After all, we are Doctors. Done Different.