consultation & surgical Fees Policy

Professor Ashton is a Melbourne based plastic surgeon who specialises in face, body and breast procedures. He is chair of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Epworth Freemasons Hospital, and former head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Royal Melbourne Hospital (2001 – 2016) and Royal Women’s Hospital (2000 – 2016).

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Initial Consultation Fee

Our Initial consultation fee is $295.00, payable no later than 2 weeks prior to the consultation date.

All patients attending a consultation will require a GP referral.

Cancellation Policy

To confirm your consultation, payment is required no later than 2 weeks prior to your consultation date. Due to the demand of consultations, if we have not received payment 2 weeks prior, your appointment will be cancelled.

If you cancel or reschedule your consultation less than 48 hours prior to your consultation, we reserve the right to charge a cancellation fee equal to the value of your consultation fee.

In addition, if you do not arrive for your consultation, we reserve the right to charge you a ‘no-show’ fee equal to the value of your consultation fee.

Surgery:

Fees for Surgery

A deposit of $500.00 is required at the time your surgical booking is made.
Prof Ashton’s remaining fee is to be paid in FULL, 21 days prior to your surgery.
Professor Ashton’s fee may be paid by:
- Credit Card (Mastercard, AMEX or Visa)
- Cash in person
- Bank Cheque (to be received at Professor Ashton’s office 21 working days prior to your surgery)
- Bank transfer
Our fees include post-operative care for 6 months after your surgery date.
For appointments from 6 months post-surgery, fees will apply.
Professor Ashton does not participate in No-GAP insurance schemes for surgery.

Cancellation Policy:

Should you need to cancel your surgical booking, we request you provide us with a minimum of 14 days’ notice.
Unfortunately, should you cancel or reschedule your surgical booking without a valid medical certificate and with less than 14 days’ notice prior to your scheduled surgery, you will forfeit your $500 surgical booking fee.
If you cancel or reschedule less than 7 days prior to your scheduled surgery, you will forfeit 50% of the surgical fee.
Further, if you cancel your scheduled surgical booking less than 48 hours prior to surgery without a valid medical certificate, you will forfeit your entire surgical fee.

Medicare Rebate:

If Professor Ashton has allocated an item number for your procedure, you will be entitled to a rebate from Medicare after your surgery.
To receive this, you will need to lodge a claim with Medicare. We will provide you with the invoice claim forms via email after your surgery.

Anaesthetic:

The anaesthetist’s accounts team will contact you prior to surgery to arrange payment.
Whilst there are many variables associated with anaesthetic fees, our anaesthetists will endeavour to ensure your invoice is around the estimated fee.

Breast Implants:

If you are having breast implants:

Payment for breast implants is required 3 weeks PRIOR to surgery.
If you are having Mentor breast implants, the Mentor Customer Service team will contact you to arrange payment.
If you are having Motiva breast implants, the fee will be payable to our rooms and will appear on your invoice with Prof Ashton’s surgical fee.

NB – If you decide to change your breast implant size after your original surgery – fees will apply.

Hospital:

All hospital fees (self-funded fees or health fund excess payments) are to be paid on the day of admission to the hospital.
If you have private health insurance:
- Please confirm with your private health insurance that the item number/s provided, are an included service on your level of cover to verify the fund will cover your hospital costs.
- If the item number is found to be restricted or excluded, please let us know as additional costs may apply.
For self-funded patients:
- In the case that your anticipated surgery time is exceeded, there will be extra theatre fees of $450 per 15 minutes.
- If your procedure takes less than the anticipated surgery time, the hospital will refund you accordingly.
- Additional nights in hospital will incur a fee of $1100 per night.
- If any additional prostheses or disposable items are required during your surgery, these items will be billed to you.

Pathology:

All breast tissue removed is sent to Histolab for testing.

Depending on your level of private health insurance, there may be out of pocket expenses of up to $280.

What is included in Professor Ashton’s surgical fee

Up to 6 months of post-operative care including review appointments with Professor Ashton and the nursing team, all post-surgical bras and binder where required, and surgical tape for scar management.

In the event you require surgery for a post-operative complication such as haematoma, seroma, suture abscess, wound opening or infection, there will be no further out of pocket fees for either Professor Ashton or our anaesthetist for this revisional surgery within the first 6 months.

The requirement for revisional adjustments would be assessed at your 3-month post-operative review, unless it is an urgent matter for which we would manage immediately.