Changing clinics
How to switch clinics in the Northern Territory
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 Northern 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 Territory applies no specific regulation of its own to this kind of prescribing, which makes the approval side of a transfer short. One Territory rule, on drug dependence, is set out below because it decides whether LeafLine can take you on.
How it works
Moving your care from the Northern 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 Northern 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 Northern 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.
NT Health states that the Territory applies no specific regulation to prescribing in this kind of care, so for an adult transferring from another clinic the new approval is the federal one, applied for by your new Clinician after your transfer consultation. The TGA states it processes these applications in 2 to 5 days.
A Chief Health Officer authorisation is needed to prescribe for the treatment of addiction, and the Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 2012 (NT) makes that authorisation available only to practitioners who practise in the Territory. If you have been treated for drug dependence, or your Clinician forms that view at your consultation, LeafLine declines and refers you to a Territory-based service rather than taking you on.
NT
Transferring from a Territory clinic
The Territory does not observe daylight saving, so LeafLine Clinic’s line is open 8:30am to 6:30pm Darwin time during standard time and 7:30am to 5:30pm while the eastern states are on daylight saving. Consultations run by video or telephone from Darwin to Alice Springs, and telephone works where video does not.
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. Your previous clinic may charge for copies; LeafLine does not charge for requesting or receiving them.
Switching clinics in Northern Territory: common questions
Do I need a new approval when I move my care to LeafLine in the NT?
Yes, one. The Therapeutic Goods Administration approval behind your prescription names the practitioner who applied for it and does not transfer. If your new Clinician decides to prescribe after your transfer consultation, they apply afresh. NT Health states that the Territory applies no specific regulation of its own to this kind of prescribing.
Can LeafLine take me on if I have been treated for drug dependence?
No. Prescribing for the treatment of addiction in the Territory needs a Chief Health Officer authorisation, and the Act makes that available only to practitioners who practise in the Territory. LeafLine declines in that situation and refers you to a Territory-based service.
Will my new Clinician see what I was prescribed before?
Yes. Your new Clinician checks NTScript before prescribing a monitored medicine, which shows your recent prescribing history. It does not replace your records, which we request from your previous clinic with your consent.
What does the transfer cost in the Northern Territory?
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 Territorians reach LeafLine Clinic?
Support and bookings run 9am to 7pm AEST, seven days a week, which is 8:30am to 6:30pm Territory time. The NT does not observe daylight saving, so that holds year round during standard time, and shifts to 7:30am to 5:30pm during eastern daylight saving.
Ready to get started?
Take the first step. A simple conversation with a Clinician.
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