Port Stephens · Telehealth
Telehealth Dietitian for Port Stephens
Video appointments with Accredited Practising Dietitians for Nelson Bay, Raymond Terrace, Medowie and the wider Port Stephens area — without a round trip to Newcastle.
How we see Port Stephens clients: by telehealth only. Ausclin’s rooms are in Mount Hutton and we do not run a clinic in Port Stephens, so every Port Stephens appointment is a video consultation. Medicare and private health rebates apply on the same basis as an in-person visit.
A spread-out area with very little local dietetics
Port Stephens is not one town, it is a scatter of them — and the distances between them are the point. From Nelson Bay, getting to a Newcastle appointment and back is most of a day once you account for the return trip. From Karuah or Tea Gardens it is longer again.
There is also comparatively little focused dietetics in the area itself, so the practical choice has often been a long drive or nothing. Video appointments make it neither.
Where our Port Stephens clients are
Nelson Bay, Shoal Bay, Corlette, Salamander Bay, Soldiers Point, Anna Bay, Fingal Bay, Boat Harbour, Medowie, Raymond Terrace, Karuah, Lemon Tree Passage, Tanilba Bay and Mallabula.
We also see clients further up towards Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest, where the trip to Newcastle is longer still.
Ongoing care without the round trip
The place telehealth earns its keep is not the first appointment, it is the fourth and fifth. Dietetics is rarely one-and-done: most of the value comes from reviewing what actually happened, adjusting, and reviewing again.
When each review costs half a day of travel, people stop coming — usually right at the point the work was starting to pay off. Removing the trip is often the difference between a plan that gets followed through and one that quietly stops.
How telehealth works, and what it costs
Do you travel to Port Stephens?
No. We do not run a clinic in Port Stephens and we do not do home visits there. All Port Stephens appointments are by video. Our rooms in Mount Hutton are open to you if you would prefer to be seen face to face, but you would be travelling to us.
Is a telehealth dietitian covered by Medicare?
Yes, on the same basis as an in-person appointment. If your GP prepares a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan, Medicare item 10954 currently rebates $63.40 per session for up to five allied health sessions per calendar year, and the session must run at least 20 minutes. Eating disorder arrangements allow considerably more. You can check the pathways with our Medicare Eligibility Checker.
Does telehealth actually work for dietetics?
It suits dietetics better than most clinical work. There is no physical examination in a standard dietitian appointment — it is conversation, history, food patterns, planning and review. A video call loses very little of that, and it gains something: we can see your kitchen, your pantry, the labels on the products you actually buy, which is often more useful than anything that happens in a consulting room.
Is the internet good enough where I am?
Usually, and it does not need to be great. A video appointment uses less bandwidth than streaming a film. If the connection is genuinely poor we can switch to a phone consultation, which for most dietetics appointments loses very little — and any documents or plans get emailed afterwards regardless.