About Epworth Clinic
For information on what to expect as an inpatient at Epworth Clinic download our patient admission booklet.
Coming to the clinic
To access our inpatient therapies and day programs, or to see an Epworth-accredited psychiatrist, you first need a referral from your GP or medical specialist.
After we have received your referral, you'll be contacted by one of our intake clinicians for a confidential discussion on how we can best support you in your current situation and to confirm the details of your admission or appointment.
Fees and health insurance
Epworth Clinic is a private mental health service provider. You may be able to access our services through your private health insurance provider or through self-funding.
Important changes to private health insurance for mental health services
Starting from 1 April 2018, the Australian Government introduced some changes to mental health cover, making it easier for policy holders to access mental health services.
Previously, if you were on a hospital policy that provided restricted benefits for psychiatric care, you would have to upgrade your cover and serve a two month waiting period before accessing higher benefits.
You can now upgrade your cover without having to serve this two-month waiting period to access higher benefits for psychiatric care in a private hospital.
However, the two-month waiting period exemption on upgraded cover can only be used once and can only be accessed if you have already completed an initial two months of membership on any level of hospital cover.
For more information about this offer, please contact your health fund.
For general information regarding this exemption, see the Department of Health website:
- Supporting Mental Health - Waiting period exemption for higher benefits.
Patients with private health insurance
If you have private health insurance that covers mental health treatment, your provider may cover a portion of the costs associated with our inpatient and day programs.
For information on what is included in your insurance cover, please contact your provider who will be able to confirm your level of cover for all of our services.
Self-funded patients
If you don't have private health insurance, you can still access our services as a self-funded patient.
Once we have received a referral from your doctor, we can provide you with an estimate of fees prior to admission.
Self-funded accounts must be paid in full prior to admission.
Additional resources
- Private health insurance
- Please read these brochures from the Australian Private Hospitals Association about admission to private psychiatric hospitals and insurance coverage.