Changing clinics
How to switch clinics in the ACT
We request your records from your previous clinic with your written consent, and your first appointment is a transfer consultation with an AHPRA-registered Clinician at $69. Every treatment decision is made afresh, by your Clinician, after that consultation.
- Records requested on your behalf
- Transfer consultation $69
- AHPRA-registered Clinicians
If you are in the Australian Capital Territory and your care at another clinic has stalled, LeafLine Clinic can take it over. With your written consent our patient-support team requests your records and treatment summary from your previous clinic, and your first appointment is a transfer consultation with an AHPRA-registered Clinician at $69.
The ACT is the one jurisdiction where every patient in this kind of care needs a territory approval as well as the federal one, so a Canberra transfer always involves two new applications.
How it works
Moving your care from the Australian Capital Territory, step by step
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Start with a call, or check your eligibility
Book a free 10-minute info call with our patient-support team, or complete the online eligibility check. The check asks where you are located, which for the Australian Capital Territory sets which of the rules on this page apply, and the screening questions every patient answers. No clinical advice is given on the call.
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Give consent and tell us where you were treated
Complete your intake forms and name your previous clinic. With your written consent our patient-support team requests your records and treatment summary from them. Anything you already hold, such as your approval letter or a recent treatment summary, can be sent to us straight away.
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A transfer consultation, $69
You meet your Clinician by video. They review your history and records with you, discuss your circumstances, and make an independent clinical assessment. Nothing carries over automatically, and any new approval is applied for after this consultation, not before.
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New approvals, then ongoing care
If your Clinician decides to prescribe, they lodge the federal application, and any Australian Capital Territory application that applies to you, and nothing is prescribed until those are granted. Follow-up reviews are booked with the same Clinician, and with your consent your Clinician can write to your regular GP.
Before you book
What changes when your prescriber changes
The Therapeutic Goods Administration grants the approval behind your prescription to the practitioner who applied for it, for you, for the period written on the approval letter. Only that practitioner can prescribe under it. When you move clinics and your new Clinician decides to prescribe, they make a new application after your transfer consultation, and the TGA states it processes applications in 2 to 5 days.
Bring your existing approval letter and current prescription details to the consultation if you have them. They answer most of the questions the new application asks, and they let your Clinician see how long your current approval has left to run.
Every patient in the Australian Capital Territory needs an ACT Chief Health Officer approval alongside the federal one before a Clinician can prescribe in this kind of care. ACT Health’s position is that both must be approved first. Any ACT approval your previous clinic held was issued to your previous prescriber and does not transfer.
If your Clinician decides to prescribe, they lodge the ACT application on the same federal form, so the two run together. The Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 (ACT) requires the Chief Health Officer to give written notice within 7 days of deciding the application, and the TGA states it processes its side in 2 to 5 days.
ACT
Transferring from a Canberra clinic
The ACT shares LeafLine Clinic’s operating timezone, so the published hours are your local hours for most of the year. Consultations run by video or telephone across every Canberra district and the surrounding region, and the records request goes to your previous clinic in the same form whether it was in Canberra or interstate.
You have a right of access to your own health records. Australian Privacy Principle 12 requires an organisation that holds your personal information to give you access to it on request, within a reasonable period, which the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner says should generally not exceed 30 calendar days. In the ACT the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997 (ACT) sits alongside that. Your previous clinic may charge for copies; LeafLine does not charge for requesting or receiving them.
Switching clinics in Australian Capital Territory: common questions
Do I need a new approval when I move my care to LeafLine in the ACT?
Yes, two. The Therapeutic Goods Administration approval names the practitioner who applied for it and does not transfer, and the ACT Chief Health Officer approval is issued to the prescriber in the same way. If your new Clinician decides to prescribe after your transfer consultation, they apply for both on the one federal form.
How long does the ACT approval take?
The Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 (ACT) requires written notice within 7 days of the Chief Health Officer deciding the application. The TGA states it processes its side in 2 to 5 days. Nothing is prescribed until both are granted.
Will my new Clinician see what I was prescribed before?
Yes. Your new Clinician checks Canberra Script before prescribing, which shows your recent prescribing history for monitored medicines. It does not replace your records, which we request from your previous clinic with your consent.
What does the transfer cost in the ACT?
The transfer consultation is $69. Follow-up consultations are $59 to $69. LeafLine does not charge for requesting or receiving your records; your previous clinic sets its own policy on copies. Fees are the same in every state and territory and are published before you book.
What hours can ACT patients reach LeafLine Clinic?
Support and bookings run 9am to 7pm AEST, seven days a week. That is local time in the ACT during standard time; during daylight saving, local times sit one hour ahead.
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