I was not advised that Smart Clinics Ferny Grove had closed. I tried to ring them to make an appointment only to find out they were closed. The phone message was confusing. I rang Smart Clinics at Chermside waited for a long time. They thought there was a change of system not real clear. I rang Smart Clinics head office but after waiting 70 minutes I gave up.
This review is for the smart clinic in Brisbane city. So I first called smart clinic in toowong and asked if they bulk bill health care card holders and the answer was yes and they booked me an appointment, then I realised there was a closer smart clinic in Brisbane city so I called Mary at the Brisbane cbd smart clinic and told Mary I have a health care card could I please make an appointment? She told they don’t bulk bill!! So I told her but Toowong said you do, then she told me they only bulk bill some people, and I replied “so basically you only bulk bill the people you like??” Then Mary said no it’s not like that. So I said ok so can I be bulk billed, she then replied “ok” then told me to wait on hold and never came back!!. Absolutely discustingly unprofessional! This clinic generally has good reviews, most likely has great doctors but a very toxic receptionist. This is not great for the company name
I've used my local clinic for a number of years, and since it changed to a "Smart Clinic" - just the once, and never again.
My normal GP had moved on, so made an appointment with Dr "Whomever was available" as I just needed a new script for ongoing medication. Nothing complicated nor time consuming.
After updating my details at the front desk, spent a few brief minutes the doc and on the way out got robbed for an "appointment over 12 minutes" ?!? 1:15 appointment, and receipt printed at 1:22.
Dr did waste a few minutes suggesting tests I didn't ask for, and had to take my blood pressure (manually?) twice as he got it wrong first up.
Should be charged with fraud for overcharging. I'll track down my old GP, and now understand why he no longer practices at this clinic.
Ever since the "SmartClinic" monster swallowed a bunch of decent small clinics into its group, the patients no longer have their information kept securely and privately. The private and sensitive health information about the patients is no longer kept in one clinic of the patient's choice, it is now shared between many clinics through unsecure channels and also used for marketing purposes of the big business. Who knows which third-party software SmartClinics are now using for pushing our personal information back and forth, and who has acess to their server...
In addition to the privacy and safety issues, there is no longer any respect for the patient's choices and wishes. No matter how many times the whole our family told the SmartClinics, in person and in writing, that we do not want to receive any reminders, recalls, or any other junk, we keep greeting the unwanted letters.
SmartClinics is one of those medical establishments that thinks it knows best, and believes the patients are ignorant imbeciles who cannot make any decisions about their own health care, and have to be told and ordered what to do. Considering that the prices in SmartClinics are far from cheap, this threatment is unacceptable. Bormarding the patients with junk to force them make another, unneeded appointment, is an atrocious business approach.
We had enough of this clinical "smartness" and decided to move to another medical centre where our words will be heard and respected. Which is sad, because we have been using the same centre for many years, and the doctors were ok. The greedy business people ruined everything.
I bet we will still be getting spam from SmartClinics even after we told them we are not coming back.
Approximate cost: $79
Hi stevend579,
Thank you for your attempts to clarify the situation. Unfortunately saying "it's simply untrue" is not substantial. You may be using a tier 1 data centre for information storage, but can you guarantee that the connection between the centre and your clinics is 100% secure? That it cannot possible be hacked or eavesdropped? That every single person amongst your staff is highly literate in computer security and cannot compromise the safety of the data? That the software you use is 100% made by reliable, high quality Australian programmers and is not supported or serviced from anywhere overseas? That no one in the data centre or from the IT people can ever see the patients personal details? Can you guarantee all that? If not, then the system cannot be called secure.
Now, in your reply you carefully avoided the problem of unwanted reminders and outright spam. You said you are listening to your patients' feedback... How about respecting the wish of a patient when they made it very clear that they don't want to be pestered with reminders? How about stopping passing the patients's contact numbers to SMS spam centres? Your spammy sms come from the same numbers used by car salesmen, sports event promoters and marketing surveys. Do you think that's secure or respectful?
Even after whole my family told the SmartClinics that we are no longer your patients and want to be deleted from your patient list, we keep getting your spam: countless letters urging us to make an appointment for purposes we previously opposed to in person and in writing, and SMS advertising of your various centres. Or is that also done purely for our convenience? Thanks but no thanks.
When we were signing up with SmartClinics, it wasn't that "smart". It was a separate medical centre. After it was bought by SmartClinics, we had no choice to prevent our personal and medical information from being sold. Even now, after we left, our personal details are being misused, mostly for promotional and marketing purposes.
So... With all respect, being a father of 3 or living in Brisbane doesn't make any computer network secure or spam more palatable.
This place has been a real help at times when I can't get into my own doctor. You can book online or ring up and you don't have to wait longer than about 15 minutes. The doctors I have seen there have been very easy to deal with and the receptionists are friendly & helpful. Prices are what you would pay at your own doctor. Highly recommended.
I've never had to wait more than 5 minutes to be seen at Smart clinics. The service is really professional and if you do have to wait, you can use the ipads in the waiting room. They have extended hours so if you work full time you can go there after work but fees are a bit higher. Still, convenience is worth it.
You don't see doctors but nurse practitioners but for most things, that's all you need anyway.
Even though Chermside Westfield is a parking nightmare, Smart Clinics have their own reserved spots right outside the door. Perfect!!
Professional, efficient and really good to deal with.
Smart Clinics is a very slick operation filling a gap in the medical centre market. Open from 7am to 9pm 7 days a week, patients are assured of minimal wait times. Every time we've been there, we've been seen within 5 minutes. Although there are no doctors on staff, patients are seen by very capable nurse practitioners who can prescribe medications, order tests and conduct examinations including breast exams, prostate checks, pap smears, etc. The price is higher for out of regular hours visits but this is to be expected; convenience costs. This is a highly professional organisation and many details have been carefully considered. Forget the magazines in the waiting room and browse the net on the provided iPads. There's also a kids' playground, a diagnostic machine that checks your weight, BP and other vitals plus there are some over-the-counter medications available for purchase.
Approximate cost: $From $38 out of pocket
