Practice policy

In 2022 Dr French realised that the only way to help women stay well is to have the time to understand their needs. The traditional medical model of 10-15 minute consultations creates time pressures that may lead to unsatisfactory outcomes whenever emotions are involved.

Moving away from this model and allowing time to explore women’s health concerns facilitates more effective healthcare. The traditional model rewards brief encounters, with Medicare rebates reducing proportionally to time spent with patients. The only way to sustain a practice that facilitates the psychosocial impact of health and spends more time with patients is to increase gap payments.

Dr French holds multiple subspecialist qualifications and has been working with women for twenty years. She provides patient-centred care with knowledge and adaptability that only years of diverse experience can offer. Her fees reflect her experience and skill. The practice believes this represents good value, as consultations should be fewer in number to achieve your health outcomes.

The clinic is open to women who have a general practitioner of their own and are seeking advice about perimenopause or menopause, contraception including intrauterine devices and subdermal implants, endometriosis, period management, PMOS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, vulval symptoms, mental health symptoms of hormonal fluctuations and more challenging women’s health problems.

Pairing women’s healthcare with aesthetic treatments is an effective and rewarding way to meet women’s needs and maintain confidence through each adult life phase. The focus is on maintaining the face you know, preserving collagen and fundamental skin characteristics, and minimising the need for future rejuvenation that may alter appearance.

Product offerings are focused on evidence-based treatments that aim for lasting benefits.

Halaxy is the preferred platform for booking appointments. Use the booking page if you are unsure which appointment type is safest.

Additional urgent appointments may not be visible online. Please call the clinic if you have an urgent or semi-urgent concern.

Appointment times are a minimum of 15 minutes and may be as long as an hour. The practice generally recommends the following appointment lengths.

Our practice carefully reviews all test and investigation results received from pathology and imaging providers. If a result requires follow-up, further investigation, or treatment, we will contact you to arrange an appointment or discuss the findings. However, if your results are normal and no further action is required, you may not be contacted.

We encourage all patients to take an active role in managing their health by accessing eligible ACT public health information through the ACT Government MyDHR app, or by linking Medicare and My Health Record to their myGov account, where eligible.

Prescription renewals may be available without consultation if the prescribing doctor is satisfied that no review is required.

Repeat prescription requests must use the repeat prescription pathway when available because that provides greater patient safety. Telephone, email and general website contact requests for repeat prescriptions will not be processed.

The fee for this service will be shown when the request pathway is ready. In some circumstances, the doctor may waive the fee, such as substitution due to medication shortages or correction of an error.

Renewals of referrals to specialists may be available without consultation if the referring doctor is satisfied that no review is required.

Repeat referral requests are separate from repeat prescriptions and will be published only when the pathway is ready for patient use.

Telehealth and face-to-face appointments attract the same fees. Rebates may not be available for all telehealth or telephone consultations. Medicare sets, and periodically changes, eligibility for these rebates.

The practice is currently open to casual patients who access the clinic for general practitioner specialist services relating to women’s reproductive and perimenopausal or menopausal health, and aesthetic care.

Healthcare card holders, pensioners and full-time students with student identification may attract a discount. Please inform reception staff at the time of payment if this applies to you.

Use the fees page for current public fees. Some treatment fees are shown only after they are confirmed for patient use.