Consultation FAQs

Yes. Dr Cutbush and his staff are bound by strict confidentiality requirements in relation to your medical records. The contents of your records will not be released to other parties without your written consent.

If you have specific concerns about your medical records, please explain them to the office staff and we will make sure your request is followed.

The clinic is at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, Level 7 (Yellow Block), Suite 7.5, St Andrew’s Specialist Suites, 457 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill QLD 4000.

Finding the office: from the hospital main entrance off Wickham Terrace, take the Yellow Block lifts, across from the hospital main reception and admission desk, up to Level 7. Turn right as you exit the lifts and the office is straight ahead.

For transport and parking options, see our parking and directions page.

Please be aware of parking restrictions in the streets around the hospital. Paid parking is available at these locations:

Main hospital car park, entry via North Street. This car park uses licence plate recognition, so you will not receive a paper ticket. You can pay with cash or card at the pay station on Level 3 beside the café, or pay on exit by credit card. Make sure you know your licence plate number.

Nearby, Secure Parking at St Andrew’s Place (entry via North Street), Secure Parking on Fortescue Street, and Wilson Parking at the Little Edward Street car park (entry via Hope Street).

Full details, including links to each car park, are on the contact page.

The closest train station is Roma Street, about a 15 minute walk uphill to the hospital.

An alternative is to get off at Central Station and catch the free City Spring Hill Loop bus to the hospital from stop 141 on Edward Street. If you are travelling from Brisbane airport, the Airtrain will take you to Central Station.

Train and bus timetables are available through Translink.

Bring your referral, any scans concerning the affected area (X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds or MRIs), and any relevant information from previous doctors or allied health professionals.

The more information you bring, the more accurately Dr Cutbush can assess your condition and make recommendations.

The office prefers to receive as much as possible before your appointment, so please ring and arrange to send your referral and scans in. In many cases we can retrieve scans electronically beforehand, and Dr Cutbush will often review them before you arrive to make sure everything he needs is available. If you are unsure, ring and ask.

Many of Dr Cutbush’s patients fly to Brisbane or drive in from outside the city. If you live outside Brisbane, consider asking the staff to set up a Telehealth consultation first. A Telehealth consultation costs $360. Paperwork will be emailed to you to complete and return, and Dr Cutbush will need a copy of any scans you have had along with the reports.

Medicare requires a referral from your GP. Without one you will have to pay the full cost of the consultation.

Reports are helpful, but to consider any surgical treatment Dr Cutbush needs the actual scans to review. Many radiology practices allow his staff to download scans directly to his server. Otherwise you will need to obtain a CD or USB of the scan and post it to the office.

A Telehealth consultation does not replace a face to face consultation, but it allows Dr Cutbush to form a view of the likely problem and arrange a plan. If surgery is recommended, you will usually be scheduled to see him on a Tuesday afternoon with surgery booked the next day, and any scans you need can be arranged for the Tuesday morning beforehand.

Dr Cutbush will confirm with you in person exactly what treatment you require before going ahead. Surgery being scheduled does not mean it has to go ahead.

Most follow up after surgery can be done by Telehealth, with your physiotherapist sending reports. Any X-rays or scans you need afterwards can be obtained locally and sent through before the review.

A current referral is what allows your consultation fee to be claimed through Medicare. This is a strict Medicare requirement. A referral from a general practitioner covers your visits for 12 months. A referral from a specialist lasts 3 months.

Without a current referral you will not be able to claim anything back from Medicare for your consultation, nor from Medicare or your health fund for surgery fees if you require surgery.

A referral is also important clinically, as it provides details about your present problem and relevant medical history.

You can, but by law you will not be able to claim anything back from Medicare or your private health insurer.

No. By law the office needs your doctor’s referral before you see Dr Cutbush. Federal government rules on referrals are strict.

Yes, you do.

Dr Cutbush consults on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On some occasions he may be unavailable.

Dr Cutbush will need to examine the area you are seeing him for, which for most consultations is your shoulder.

If you are female, consider wearing something such as a sleeveless top or singlet under your shirt, jacket or jumper that you can leave on while your shoulder is examined. If you are male, a loose fitting shirt or t-shirt that is easy to take on and off works best.

Please telephone the office so your appointment can be rescheduled and the time offered to another patient who is waiting for advice or treatment.

It is best to contact the office to discuss which scans are appropriate for your appointment. We prefer to prepare the referral for the required scans ourselves, because Dr Cutbush is particular about how the scans are performed.

A disc containing the digital images gives Dr Cutbush what he needs and lets him display the scans to explain them to you. Hard copies of films are no longer necessary.

The report on a scan is not sufficient on its own for assessment and treatment planning, the scans themselves are needed. Digital copies carry much more information than printed versions.

Some radiology clinics provide online access we can download from, but not all do. Please confirm we can download your films before your appointment. If we cannot, bring a copy on disc or USB. Dr Cutbush prefers DICOM format rather than JPEGs, as DICOM is the standard format used for diagnostic imaging.

Radiology practices often offer to send scans to Dr Cutbush, but in our experience what arrives is the report. Dr Cutbush needs to review the scan itself, not just read the report, to be confident the treatment he recommends is right for you.

Some radiology groups have web access that allows scans to be downloaded directly to his server, InteleViewer is one example. Not all practices have it. The office keeps a list of radiology practices with InteleViewer access and can advise you.

Despite the advances of MRI and CT, X-rays remain an important investigation for orthopaedic conditions.

As a general rule, if you have had a fracture treated either by surgery or by immobilisation, an X-ray helps monitor your progress. If you are unsure, contact the office. You can have the X-ray beforehand, or a booking can be made for one immediately prior to your appointment.

When you book, mention it to the reception staff if you think you may need further investigations such as an MRI, particularly if you live outside Brisbane, as many patients do.

It is usually not possible to book an MRI at short notice, and it may take a week or two to arrange. If that could be an issue for you, say so when booking. Staff will ask you to send in your referral and the written reports from any previous scans, so Dr Cutbush can review them and determine whether further investigations are likely to be needed before your first visit.

Consultation fees are listed in full on the consultation page.

Full payment is required at the time of your consultation. You will be issued with a receipt, and if your bank details are registered with Medicare we can lodge the claim electronically on your behalf. Cash, EFTPOS and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard and American Express) are accepted, and in some instances personal cheques.

Yes. Private health insurance does not contribute to consultation fees, and you will receive a Medicare rebate for Dr Cutbush’s consultation fees whether you are privately insured or not.

Private health insurance covers the hospital and implant costs for surgery undertaken in a private hospital. For shoulder surgery these costs are typically between $10,000 and $20,000 for a procedure, and more for surgery such as a shoulder replacement. Without private insurance, these costs are met by the patient.

One option is to take out private health insurance and wait out the 12 month waiting period for pre-existing conditions. Under Australian law, patients are covered for a pre-existing condition once they have completed that 12 month period in a health fund.

Dr Cutbush no longer has a significant appointment in the public hospital system.

Dr Cutbush is a private billing specialist and does not bulk bill. His surgical fees are guided by the Australian Medical Association schedule of fees, and he does not offer no gap or known gap initial surgical procedures.

You will be given a written estimate of fees before surgery so there are no surprises. If the out of pocket cost is a concern, please raise it with the office early.

You will need to see Dr Cutbush for an initial consultation before surgery can be organised. If he advises during your consultation that surgery is needed, a date and a quote can be given to you at that time.

Most shoulder operations involve an overnight stay, because they can be painful for the first night and nursing staff can administer stronger pain relief if it is needed.

Almost all patients having an arthroscopic shoulder procedure are discharged the next day, usually around 11am after seeing Dr Cutbush and the physiotherapist. Before discharge, ward nursing staff will change your dressings and collect your pain medication from the pharmacy.

Some patients need an X-ray or a scan before discharge, which can occasionally delay things past 11am. Patients having shoulder replacement surgery will often spend two nights in hospital.

You will initially be given an admission time of 6:00am. You will be asked to ring the office once the list has been finalised on the day before surgery, and we will then give you an admission time closer to the actual time of your operation.

We try to reduce time spent waiting at the hospital, but please remember this is a surgical procedure and some waiting beforehand is involved.

Dr Cutbush operates on Mondays and Wednesdays at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital. Times vary and can be discussed with the staff when you schedule your surgery. On some occasions he may be unavailable.

Most day surgery patients are advised to expect to spend about half a day at the hospital, though most shoulder procedures involve an overnight stay.

Allow about an hour at the rooms for a first appointment. Dr Cutbush will take a history of your shoulder, examine you, review your imaging, and explain what he thinks is going on using models and diagrams so you can see it rather than just hear it.

You will leave with the diagnosis, the reasonable treatment options including the non surgical ones, and a plan. If surgery is the right option you can discuss timing, costs and recovery then, or take the information away and decide later.

Yes. Second opinions are a normal part of a shoulder practice and are welcome. Bring your referral, all your imaging including the actual scans rather than just the reports, and any operation notes or correspondence from the treating surgeon.

A second opinion sometimes confirms the first. That is still a useful outcome, because it means you can proceed with confidence.

Yes, Telehealth is available and is particularly useful if you live outside Brisbane, if you are deciding whether a trip is worthwhile, or for some follow up appointments after surgery.

A shoulder does need to be examined in person at some stage, so a Telehealth consultation usually sits alongside an in person appointment rather than replacing it. Where patients have travelled a long distance, surgery is often scheduled for the day after the in person appointment. Telehealth has its own Medicare requirements, so ask the office what applies to you.

Dr Cutbush is an orthopaedic surgeon whose practice is limited to the shoulder, elbow and upper limb. He trained in shoulder surgery in Australia and overseas, teaches and publishes in the field, runs a post fellowship shoulder training programme, and operates on shoulders every week.

His qualifications, appointments and published work are set out on the qualifications and publications pages if you would like to read them.

Yes. The practice covers the shoulder and the elbow, including distal biceps repairs, and upper limb problems such as brachial plexus injuries.

If your problem turns out to sit outside that scope, you will be told so and pointed towards the right person rather than kept in the practice.

Yes. WorkCover, compulsory third party and Department of Veterans Affairs patients are all seen. Please tell the office which scheme applies when you book, because each has its own referral, approval and billing requirements and getting them right early avoids delays.

For WorkCover you will still need a referral. Bring your claim number and your case manager details to the appointment.

It varies with the clinic list. Urgent problems, particularly acute injuries where timing affects what can be repaired, are prioritised, so tell the office if your referral is urgent or if your GP has flagged it as such.

If a cancellation comes up sooner, the office keeps a list and will call you.

You do not need to, but if you are already seeing a physiotherapist, keep going and bring a summary of what has been tried and how the shoulder responded. That information is useful, because the response to good physiotherapy often shapes the decision about surgery.

If you have not started physiotherapy, that is fine. For many shoulder conditions it will be the first thing recommended, and the clinic can point you to physiotherapists experienced in shoulders.