All Medicare-eligible consultations are bulk billed for patients with a valid Medicare card. Some items, including privately purchased vaccines and consumables, attract a fee.
Heart checks, cancer screening, skin, sexual health — and the ones nobody raises first.
Standard GP consultations are bulk billed for everyone with a valid Medicare card.Australia's screening programs and routine checks start at different ages and run on different clocks. Move the slider to see what generally applies.
General information for the Australian population, not a personal screening plan. What is right for you depends on your own history — that is the conversation to have in the room.
Coronary heart disease remains a leading cause of death for Australian men, and a large share of the risk is made up of numbers that take about twenty minutes to collect — blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, weight and waist, smoking status and family history.
Put together they produce an estimate of your risk over the next five years. That number is not there to frighten anyone. It exists because it changes the conversation from a vague sense that you should do something to a specific list of the two or three things that would move it most.
A history including your family, blood pressure, height, weight and waist, and usually a blood test for cholesterol and glucose. An ECG is often done on the same visit, here in our treatment room, and read while you are still in the room.
Often yes for cholesterol and glucose, so ask reception when you book. It is frustrating to arrive having eaten and be asked to come back.
For most adults, under 120 over 80 is ideal, and treatment thresholds depend on your overall risk rather than the number alone. One high reading is not a diagnosis — it is a reason to measure it again properly.
Then you have found it before it found you. Most of what follows is unglamorous and effective: blood pressure, cholesterol, activity, sleep, alcohol, smoking and weight, in whatever order gives the biggest return for you.
No. Chest pain, pressure or tightness happening now — particularly with sweating, nausea, or pain into the arm, neck or jaw — is a 000 call. Do not drive yourself and do not wait for an appointment.
Australia runs national screening programs for bowel and lung cancer, and both are funded or subsidised if you are eligible. Skin is different — there is no program, which puts it on you and on us.
Prostate is different again. There is still no national screening program, but the Australian guideline was updated in 2026 and it now recommends that GPs raise PSA testing with all men aged 50 to 69 and offer a test every two years after an informed discussion. A baseline test can also be offered at 40 to men who want one. In other words, we will bring it up — you do not have to.
It depends on your history, your skin type and how much sun you have had. A full check needs a long appointment. Between checks, anything new, changing, or not healing after a few weeks is worth bringing in on its own.
A systematic look at your skin, head to toe, in good light, often with a dermatoscope. Come without makeup, remove nail polish, and point out anything that has changed or that worries you.
The Australian guideline was revised in 2026 and now recommends that GPs offer two-yearly PSA testing to men aged 50 to 69, after a discussion about what a result would and would not mean. A baseline test at 40 can be offered to men who want one.
It is still a decision made together rather than a test done automatically, and family history, your age and your own view of the trade-offs all matter. The difference is that raising it is now our job, not yours.
It is mailed to you automatically from 50 to 74. From 45 you can request your first kit. If yours is lost or out of date, raise it at your next appointment.
It depends on your age and your smoking history — how much, and how recently. Ask us and we will work it out with you.
A test kit is mailed out at no cost from 50 to 74, every two years. From 45 you can request your first kit rather than waiting for it to arrive.
It is done at home, it takes minutes, and it is the screening test men are most likely to leave in the drawer.
A national screening program began in July 2025 for people aged 50 to 70 with a significant smoking history who have no symptoms.
Eligibility depends on how much and how recently you smoked. Ask whether you qualify — it is a low-dose CT scan, not a chest X-ray.
Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, and men over 50 are the group most often diagnosed late — usually because the spot was somewhere they could not see.
There is no national program. It relies on someone noticing. Anything new, changing, or not healing after a few weeks is worth bringing in.
There is no national screening program, but the 2026 Australian guideline recommends GPs offer two-yearly PSA testing to men aged 50 to 69 after an informed discussion.
A baseline test can be offered at 40 to men who want one. Family history matters, and so does your own view of the trade-offs.
These usually arrive at the end of an appointment, on the way out the door, prefaced with “while I am here”. Men are less likely than women to see a GP about mental health, and around three in four suicide deaths in Australia are men.
There is no special way to raise it. “I have not been sleeping” or “I have been drinking more than I used to” is a perfectly good opening sentence, and it is one we hear regularly. Book a long appointment and say it first rather than last.
A longer appointment where we go through what has been happening and write a plan together. It gives access to a number of Medicare-subsidised sessions with a psychologist, and it is reviewed after a few sessions to see whether it is working.
Australian guidelines suggest no more than ten standard drinks a week and no more than four on any one day. Most people underestimate a standard drink considerably, so it is worth counting honestly for a week before deciding.
Yes. Fatigue is one of the more useful symptoms to bring in because the causes range widely — sleep apnoea, iron, thyroid, mood, alcohol, diabetes, shift work. Several of them are simple to test for.
Yes. What you tell your doctor stays in your medical record and is not shared with your employer. Work medicals are separate, and even then the employer receives a fitness opinion, not your history.
Call Lifeline on 13 11 14, any hour of any day. In an emergency, or if someone's life is at risk, call 000.
Sexual health testing is straightforward, confidential and considerably more routine than most people expect. Many infections have no symptoms at all, which is the entire reason testing exists.
Erectile difficulty is worth raising for a reason beyond the obvious: it is sometimes an early sign of blood vessel disease, and it can be the first indication that a heart risk assessment is overdue. It is a medical symptom, not an embarrassment.
Usually a urine sample and a blood test, sometimes a swab. It is quick, and results come back to us within a few days.
The consultation is bulk billed with a valid Medicare card, and most tests are covered. If anything carries a cost you will be told before it is ordered.
No. Your record is confidential. If a notifiable infection is found there are public health processes for partner notification, and they are explained to you and can be done anonymously.
Sometimes, but it is frequently requested for symptoms that turn out to have another cause — sleep, weight, alcohol, mood or thyroid. Testing is done in line with Australian guidance, which means at the right time of day and repeated before anything is concluded.
Investigation involves both partners and there is more that can be done locally than most people expect. Generally worth looking after twelve months of trying, or six if your partner is over 35.
Pre-employment medicals, job evaluations and insurance reports are all done here. They are longer than a standard consultation, they are not a Medicare service, and they attract a private fee — quoted before you book so there are no surprises afterwards.
The report answers one question: can this person do this job safely. Your employer receives a fitness opinion and anything they are legally required to be told. They do not receive your medical history.
Considerably longer than a standard appointment — allow the better part of an hour, more if audiometry, spirometry and drug screening are all required.
Photo ID, the employer's form or reference number, your glasses or contacts, hearing aids if you wear them, and a list of your medicines. Wear clothing you can move in.
Yes. An undisclosed history that surfaces later causes far more trouble than one declared up front, and it can affect a future claim.
Often the employer pays directly. Check with them first and tell reception what the arrangement is when you book.
No. Work and insurance medicals are not Medicare services. You will be quoted the fee before the appointment.
Heart health checks
Blood pressure & cholesterol
Diabetes risk assessment
ECG on site
Bowel screening kits
Skin cancer checks
Prostate discussion & PSA
Sexual health testing
Mood, sleep & alcohol
Weight and lifestyle support
Pre-employment medicals
Spirometry on site
Heart health checks
Blood pressure & cholesterol
Diabetes risk assessment
ECG on site
Bowel screening kits
Skin cancer checks
Prostate discussion & PSA
Sexual health testing
Mood, sleep & alcohol
Weight and lifestyle support
Pre-employment medicals
Spirometry on site
Heart health checks
Blood pressure & cholesterol
Diabetes risk assessment
ECG on site
Bowel screening kits
Skin cancer checks
Prostate discussion & PSA
Sexual health testing
Mood, sleep & alcohol
Weight and lifestyle support
Pre-employment medicals
Spirometry on site
Most of what a check-up looks for has no symptoms in its early stages — blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and early bowel changes among them. Feeling fine is the point at which these things are easiest to deal with.
A long appointment. A proper check involves history, examination, and usually blood tests, and it does not fit into the ten minutes a standard consultation runs to.
Often yes for cholesterol and glucose. Ask reception when you book so you do not arrive having eaten.
Yes. There are male GPs at the practice — say who you would prefer when you book and reception will do their best to match it.
Standard consultations are bulk billed for everyone with a valid Medicare card. Work and insurance medicals, and some procedures and privately purchased items, carry a fee that is quoted first.
Often, yes — that is part of the reason ECG, spirometry and pathology are here in the same building. Tell reception what you want covered so enough time is allowed.
We refer with your history and results attached so the appointment starts from something. Read more about how referrals work when the specialist is in Newcastle.
Book a long appointment and say it has been a while. Nobody is going to lecture you. We will start with the numbers, work out what matters most, and go from there.
General information onlyThis page is general health information for anyone who finds it useful. It is not advice about your own situation and it does not replace a consultation with a doctor who knows you. If you are worried about a symptom, book an appointment or call (02) 6530 7404. In an emergency, call 000.
Bulk billed with a valid Medicare card · Mon–Fri 8:00am–5:00pm · Muswellbrook Fair, Rutherford Road.
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