When you visit your General Practitioner (GP) to identify or receive treatment for a medical condition they may ask that you also see a specialist doctor for further investigations, treatment or surgery.
As a member of the medical community your GP has a wealth of knowledge and can provide recommendations of specialists they know or who they have referred to before. You may also have recommendations from a friend or family member and it might be helpful to run these names past your GP to ensure they feel they can address your medical requirements.
You may also find it helpful to conduct research on the specialists to ensure you select the best one for you. St John of God Health Care offers an online Find a Specialist search that contains important additional information about all of our specialist doctors that can help with the decision making process.
Some considerations that can help you select the best specialist for your needs:
- Search by area of specialty, for example: obstetrics, orthopaedic surgery or psychiatry.
- View their sub-specialties or special interests. This is designed to help you find a doctor with a specific expertise; for example you may want to find an orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in knee surgery.
- Location, are they based close to your home or workplace or do they offer satellite clinics nearby?
- Do you prefer a certain gender?
- Any cultural considerations.
- Additional languages - many of our doctors speak languages other than English and you may prefer to conduct your appointment in your mother tongue.
- Read their biography to understand some of their experience and qualifications.
- Do they offer a Telehealth service?
- Children – do they specialise in paediatrics and see child patients?
