Able Clinic

""The old adage, 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' rings true in regards to Able Clinic. After being told there are generally 6-12 month wait lists to see paediatric psychiatrists, we were excited to receive an appointment to the able clinic with a few short weeks of referral from our sons paediatrician. After our initial appointment it became evident why appointments to this clinic are so readily available. I left our appointment frustrated and disheartened. I felt the appointment was rushed and I did not feel like I was being listened to much of the time. As a health professional myself I felt I could have had somewhat of clinical as well as parental discussion but left with the impression that because I was not a psychiatrist myself my opinions were not valid. Often while speaking I was interrupted and my genuine concerns regarding our sons development and behaviour were trivialised. Some theories and suggestions as to the root cause of our sons behavioural delays were discussed however it was left up to me to decide if further appointments would be of benefit to our son. I would have thought that it would be up to the specialist to advise if further appointments would benefit our son. I asked if the psychiatrist would be able to write a few short paragraphs in support of an NDIS application interview our son had the following day. I was informed this was "an unrealistic expectation given the short notice" . In retrospect I find this ironic as we were informed that our initial consultation would be 90min in duration. Our consultation in reality was 60min, surely in the remaining 30min, we were billed for, a few short paragraphs could have been put together. Further when it came time to pay for our consultation we were informed that there was a much higher fee for a once off assessment. This was never disclosed to us and after an embarrassing declined payment we had to dispute this undisclosed fee. To their credit they honoured their initial fee quote and advised they would update their fee disclosure procedure. The practice manager was understanding and polite which was one of the only positive experiences we had with Able Clinic. We have subsequently had a far better experience in the public system where we have felt listened to and as a bonus have not been left out of pocket. Granted this was just our experience but based solely on this we would not recommend Able clinic for paediatric psychiatric services."