Changing clinics
How to switch clinics in Western Australia
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 Western Australia 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.
Western Australia is the state whose health department says in terms that approvals do not follow a patient from one prescriber to another, and it adds a Department approval of its own in four situations.
How it works
Moving your care from Western Australia, 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 Western Australia 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 Western Australia 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.
WA Health states that approval to prescribe under the federal Special Access Scheme “is not transferable to another prescriber”. If your new Clinician decides to prescribe after your transfer consultation, they apply afresh, and the TGA states it processes these applications in 2 to 5 days.
Western Australia adds a Department of Health approval, issued by the Department’s Chief Executive Officer, in four situations. Three can apply to an adult transferring their care: a history of drug dependence, oversupply or a substance use disorder in the past five years; a history of psychosis or another psychiatric condition alongside the reason for treatment; and a daily dose above the Department’s published ceiling. If any of these applies and your Clinician decides to prescribe, the WA application is lodged together with the federal one, and nothing is prescribed until both are granted.
WA
Transferring from a Western Australian clinic
LeafLine Clinic operates on eastern time, so the line opens at 7am Perth time and closes at 5pm. Consultations run by video or telephone from Perth to the Kimberley, and the records request goes to your previous clinic in the same form whether it was a Perth practice or an interstate telehealth service.
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 Western Australia: common questions
Do I need a new approval when I move my care to LeafLine in WA?
Yes. WA Health states that approval to prescribe under the federal Special Access Scheme is not transferable to another prescriber, so if your new Clinician decides to prescribe after your transfer consultation they apply afresh. Where one of the four WA Department of Health situations applies to you, the Department approval is applied for again as well.
Which patients need the WA Department of Health approval?
Patients under 18, which LeafLine does not see; patients with a history of drug dependence, oversupply or a substance use disorder in the past five years; patients with a history of psychosis or another psychiatric condition alongside the reason for treatment; and patients whose daily dose exceeds the Department’s published ceiling. Your Clinician assesses this at the transfer consultation and tells you which applications apply.
Will my new Clinician see what I was prescribed before?
Yes. Your new Clinician checks ScriptCheckWA 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 WA?
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 WA patients reach LeafLine Clinic?
Support and bookings run 9am to 7pm AEST, seven days a week, which is 7am to 5pm Perth time. Western Australia does not observe daylight saving, so the two-hour difference holds for most of the year and stretches to three during eastern daylight saving.
Ready to get started?
Take the first step. A simple conversation with a Clinician.
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