Forrest Family Practice

Professional and friendly staff. Dr Atif Khan is succinct, thorough and reassuring. In a very busy practice he always takes time to ensure he provides the highest quality service. A great practice.

I have seen a couple of doctors at Forrest family practice over the last 15-20 years and I am extremely happy with the service and information that they provided over the years, However when it comes to the reception at Forrest family practice I can honestly say that they have the worst reception of any medical practice I have seen, They have one or two reception staff admitting the doctors patients and trying to answer phones all at the same time as providing clerical services for those doctors. Some of the reception staff that have been employed over the years have not been at all suitable to deal with the public, The excuse the practice is using now for not answering phone calls and poor service is due to to covid 19 staff shortage which is rubbish, poor reception practices at Forrest family practice has been like that since day one.

Very nice doctors, Dr. Nisah Ahmed is my doctor and he is fantastic. The reception ladies and nursing staff are also wonderful.

Poor service and an even more effort on the drs behalf’s they want their quick $$$ and out you go! Most don’t want to know about you after seeing you a few times! Poor efforts find another practice I’m sure you’ll get better service all round!

Have used this practice for at least 15 years, always been great, but this new billing policy where it's a complete lucky dip if the doctor chooses to bulk bill is garbage, it's complete luck of the draw and seems no rhyme or reason, maybe a list of what will be bulk billed and not would make sense instead of completely at the discretion of how the doctor feels that day.my partner got her whooping cough vaccine supplied and administered bulk billed, I had to go buy mine ($45) and then pay $85 on top of that. I'll be finding a new practice who hasn't sold their soul to the profit over patient care model.

I won’t be booking an appointment online ever again. Left work early to get here on time only to be told the doctor isn’t here! Reception didn’t care and I was told to wait for the next available appointment.

Came this morning without appointment. It was really busy but all the staff was friendly and helpful. I got a walk in appointment with the Dr Adnan Khan who was really concerned and mindful about my condition. I am highly satisfied and can only recommend this practice, Thanks

Utterly disgusted with the change in billing practice after having been a client for the last 20+ years. I simply needed a quick blood test referral and was all of 2 minutes in the "first available" doctor which was always bulk billed in the past for such quick requirements. I received an $85 bill in the post! For what - a quick click of his screen and a green bit of paper spat out of his printer and that costs $85? Nobody ever mentioned I was going to be slugged a hefty fee or I wouldn't have bothered. It seems that greed has taken over the practice at the expense of good practice and customer service.

When I queried the bill today, the receptionist shrugged it off saying there are signs everywhere. Yes I saw two signs today stuck to the top of the counter, but not the other day when it was busy and I was focused on talking to the receptionist rather than reading the tops of counters. A simple courtesy comment that there could be a fee attached would have been welcomed as it is not everyday I go to the doctors to notice a change in billing policy. She then said that I have to discuss the billing with your doctor as it varies. So how do I know if I will be bulked billed before I walk into his room? The time it takes to have that conversation, he could have simply printed out the blood test referral and bulk billed.

I had gone into the doctors a few days after my blood test to inquire about results. (before I received my first bill) and the receptionist did tell me there would be a $90 fee on Sunday which I declined. I asked if there is a way to log on like with SKG to get my results and she told me no the doctor would like to discuss the results with me (with a fee attached of course). I came home and discovered that you CAN log into MyGov My Results and your results are loaded up after 7 days! It would have been nice if the receptionist had of told me that!

A very disappointing service over the last 6 months (not mentioning here my last saga there) that has been hijacked by overpriced fees for very quick consultations when I walk in knowing exactly what I am requiring in the way of a referral, blood test or script etc
Kevin Lloyd

This practice has an understaffed reception area. I had to wait to be checked in and then again when I returned to ask a question. The staff appear to be under pressure and stressed. The doctor was good, friendly and open to questions but I had to wait over 45 minutes for a pre-booked appointment. This was, however, the only practice who had availability on the day (I tried 3 other practices before getting this one).

I visited this practice on New Year's Day and was told by the lovely receptionist working that day that there would be a fee ($90) due to the public holiday, which was very reasonable.

However, I had a pre-booked appointment at 10: 40am (21/01), and was not informed on the phone, or at the desk by the receptionists that there were changes to their "bulk billing" policies although I've been a patient on and off for several years. I wasn't seen until 11: 30am, saw the Dr for less than 10 minutes and was charged $148.50 for the consultation.

Dr Adnan, whom I had that day, didn't tell me until after the appointment that there would be a fee, he answered a call during my consultation without asking or apologising when I had already waited patiently (unbeknown to me, he knew fully I would be paying for his services), and he said to me he would email my medical certificate when I requested to have one printed then and there because he didn't want me to be charged further fees while he filled it out because consultations longer than 10 minutes will be charged double (he made it seem like he was doing me a favour of some sort to avoid fees) so he assured me that it would be emailed and I trusted him.

I still didn't receive an email, and called the practice at 4: 30pm that day asking why I still haven't received one and the response was that Dr. Adnan went home at 1: 00pm and to the records of the receptionists apparently my medical cert was printed out during the consultation which is utter rubbish because I.was.not.given.one.or.emailed.one.hence why I called.

Instead of resolving the medical cert issue, I was confronted about the unpaid invoice for the service that day when I already organised to put the charges onto an account to pay off in the future and confirmed that I had a copy of the invoice and that this was unnecessary to talk about when it was already organised. After clarifying again that I was paying the account with future payments, I gave my email to the manager "Bec Campbell", to rightfully email my medical certificate and she sent an additional attachment of the $148.50 invoice despite me highlighting that wasn't necessary.

Never going back to this practice. A very rude, over-charged, and spiteful service. No integrity with Doctor to Patient relationship. No integrity for patients who seek a bulk billed service and aren't properly informed. And the receptionists should focus on their 9 to 5 receptionists roles, and adhearing to the concerns of the patients of the doctors RESPECTFULLY instead of expressing concerns for issues they aren't qualified to resolve.

Kindest Regards,
Courtney Tomane.

Maria Chatta is a medical marvel. First GP in a long time that I have found to be caring and intuitive to such an extent. Puts your care before anything else.

I rang in the morning for an appointment and was put on hold for an hour before i gave up. I rang again after work got an apointment. Went to see the dr for a chest infectiin and to fill anither 2 scripts. Left went to chemist to discover the chest infection antibiotics script wasnt there. So now i have to reschedule an appointment to go back again

I really liked the doctor I saw, however the prices at this practice are outrageous! While I understand I get half back from Medicare I'm still out of pocket nearly $100 for less than 10 minutes! I have a pension concession card but still paid full price.

I’ve been a regular patient here for nearly 4 years and through a range of health issues, but no more. The quality of care varied from doctor to doctor, but was mostly good and I’d found one I liked seeing regularly. The communication, though, has gone from average to awful.

They would send me a text message saying I had pathology or specialist results to discuss and to please make an appointment. I’d do that, only to learn that the results were already discussed with me the last time I was in. Three times I complained about this. The response was that they send out those messages in batches, once or twice a week, so if I come in after the message has been written but before it’s sent, I’ll still get the message.

The solutions were for me to ignore the unneeded messages (but how am I to know which ones are for things already discussed and which ones are new?), or for them to stop sending them entirely. Can they tell me what results it’s about when I book an appointment? No, reception can’t access or discuss that sort of information. Can the doctor tell me during the appointment if I’ve got any messages coming to me later in the week? No, apparently not.

After the third time I said I was going to find a new doctor at a new practice. I went back one last time this week and left with even more reason to go elsewhere. See, they recently changed their billing structure; walk-ins are still bulk billed, but appointments are bulk billed or not at the doctor’s discretion. Not a change I liked, but they publicised it well. Plus, my usual doctor continued to bulk bill me.

But then this visit, literally as he’s opened the door for me to leave, he says, “Oh, by the way, the billing has changed and there’ll be a gap to pay for today, $40, if that’s okay with you. ” I said something about how it’s not like I had a choice and went to pay. I mentioned the last-second change at the desk, but they just repeated that it’s at the doctor’s discretion. I get that—but they need to tell you a bit sooner what their discretion will be!

To top it off, they send off for your Medicare rebate rather than doing it on the spot by EFT, like other providers I’ve been to. And as an extra minor irritation, the gap is $46.50, closer to $50 than to $40 for those who are counting the dollars.

Don't bother going to this second rate medical centre!
Forced to wait nearly an hour on the phone whilst sitting outside in the car park to request a walk-in - as per there rules for flu symptoms.
Had to ask member of the public to go in and ask reception to answer the phone.
When they did finally answer, was told appointments only costing $90 If they had one. Reception suggested I go somewhere else?
Appears they couldn't care less.

I asked for a bulk bill Dr, reception informed me that they bulk bill at there dicretion. So really weather they fill like it or not. So you feel unwell crawl to the Dr office where they do not bother to do the obs or weight etc until you ask them. Give you a sick certificate for 3 days when you really need five, then tell you to come back if still unwell. What the?

I wasn't aware of the change in bulk billing, my Dr didn't mention it to me at the start of my appointment. Appointment happened 30 mins after the time it was supposed to be, i was in there for 5 mins and at the end he said "today will just be a small fee of $80". Im an 18 year old with a minimum wage job and no financial support, system needs to be fixed

If you no longer offer Telehealth appointments please remove them from your website and HaloGP instead of making you patients call the clinic and be on hold for 20 minutes just to be told you no longer offer them. Spoke to a South African receptionist and she was extremely rude and was not helpful at all.

Very disappointing, Doctor had been called away for an emergency, which is absolutely acceptable, BUT really, one would think a staff member would think to inform patients that the Doctor was no longer available.

Over a 2 hour wait for a simple script renewal. Doctors are pleasant but whoever is doing their rostering needs a wake-up call.