General Appointment Information
Fees
Rainbow Care Clinic is a private billing clinic and fees apply to appointments. Bulk billing is not available. Medicare rebates apply for eligible patients. Fees are subject to change. Please be aware that most conditions will require at least two consultations before prescriptions can be provided. Payment is due at the time of the appointment. Rainbow Care Clinic out of pocket fees contribute to your Extended Medicare Safety Net. Rainbow Care Clinic is not a full service GP clinic. You will need to have a regular GP for your other primary health care needs.
Cancellation and no-show fees
Appointments can be cancelled up to 24 hrs prior to your appointment. Cancellations within 24 hrs will incur at 50% cancellation fee. No-shows will be charged the full consultation fee. If you are unwell or are isolating at the time of your face to face appointment, please urgently reply to your confirmation text to change to a face to face appointment.
Face to face appointments
Until October 2023: 71 Bathurst Street Hobart (inside Your Hobart Health)
From November 2023: 150 Churchill Avenue Sandy Bay (inside Churchill Avenue Medical Centre)
Please note Rainbow Care Clinic rents office space from Churchill Avenue Medical Centre but is a separate business. When you arrive please take a seat in the waiting room and advise Dr Holly you have arrived by replying 'here' to your confirmation text or email.
Please feel free to bring a family member or friend to your appointment if you would like a support person.
Telehealth appointments
Prior to your appointment you will receive a link via sms and/or email (please check your junk mail) with the link to the telehealth platform. If this is not functional for you, you will be called on your mobile phone. At the time of your appointment please ensure you are not driving or on public transport and are in a safe, quiet location with good internet service. You will be asked personal information so ensure you are in a location where you will not be overheard by someone you would not like to hear this information.
Gender Affirming Care
Appointments
Dr Holly practices gender affirming care in accordance with the 2022 AUSPATH: Australian Informed Consent Standards of Care for Gender Affirming Hormonal Therapy. Psychiatric assessment is not required prior to treatment under the informed consent model of care with Dr Holly but you must be over 18 and have the capacity to understand the risks and benefits of treatment. The standards of care outline the stages of assessment for and prescription of gender affirming hormonal care:
Stage 1: Introduction
Stage 2: Initial medical review
Stage 3: Hormone education and harm reduction
Stage 4: Hormone initiation (or continuation)
Stage 5: Ongoing monitoring and support
Dr Holly will work with you through these stages over several appointments. Please be aware that everyone is unique and assessment time is highly variable depending on your individual circumstances and the complexity of your needs. If you have not been on hormonal care before, this process will take at least two extended consultations (50 mins) appointments at least 1 week apart (to allow time for any blood results).
Hormonal gender affirmation is a cooperative process and the purpose of these detailed assessment appointments is for Dr Holly to develop therapeutic relationships of mutual trust and respect where you are the primary decision maker in your care. Dr Holly recognises that trans & gender diverse people are experts of their own experiences and needs. She follows a slow medicine approach, taking the time to get to know you and understand your needs so that she can develop, in collaboration with you, personalised, safe and effective medical gender affirming care plans.
As part of your workup, Dr Holly will undertake a comprehensive mental health assessment which includes screening for specific conditions, namely anxiety, depression, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. This is because these conditions are common, potentially more common in gender diverse people, and can have significant effects on health and well being. Please note that these questionnaires are screening only, meaning they simply suggest that further investigation may be worthwhile but do not diagnose any of these conditions. Dr Holly uses these screening tools to develop a better understanding of who you are, aid communication and to be able to offer you options for formal diagnosis and treatment, if indicated. Your answers to these questions do not impact your access gender affirming hormonal care unless you are acutely unwell and need urgent mental health treatment first. Completing the questionnaires prior to your appointment with Dr Holly will facilitate your overall assessment. Please follow the links below to complete the screening questionnaires before your appointment and record your results. If you find these tests distressing or you are in crisis please call Lifeline (13 11 14), or 000 if it is an emergency.
Some individuals will have complex care needs that require psychiatric or endocrine input. Dr Holly will discuss this with you at your appointment and arrange referral if necessary. If you already see a non-GP specialist for other health care needs please bring their contact details to your appointment so Dr Holly can include them in correspondence.
Screening Questionnaires
(please complete prior to your appointment & bring the results to your appointment)
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DASS-21
Record the separate numbers for Depression, Anxiety and Stress (please note that it is common to score moderate to high on this test) -
Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRSv1.1)
Record scores for Part A and Part B
If you already have a diagnosis of ADHD you do not need to complete this -
Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)
Record overall score
If you already have a diagnosis of autism you do not need to complete this
PrEP Prescription Appointments
Dr Holly is a provider of pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) for the prevention of HIV in those who are at risk of exposure. These medications can be prescribed as part of gender affirming care. PrEP prescriptions require regular follow-up and sexual health testing.
S100 (HIV) Prescription Appointments
Dr Holly is a registered provider of S100 HIV prescriptions (Tasmania only). She is private provider of ongoing/ continuation scripts for those already stable on their medication. Please see Clinic 60 if you have not had a script in Australia before or you have not been started on your HIV medication. S100 prescriptions require regular follow-up and blood tests.