Before you make an appointment, please read through the information below to give you an overview of what to expect. We would like to make the entire process as smooth as possible for you.
To make an appointment for a consultation with Dr Keegan, a GP or specialist referral is needed. Once you have that, please use this secure online form to submit the referral or email to reception@drmathewkeegan.com. If you have enquiries, please call 02 9090 4333.
After we receive your referral, we will send you an online Patient Registration Form. Once completed, we will then contact you to offer appointment options.
Your time matters. Your safety matters. The information you provide helps us give you the best possible care.
All referrals are triaged by a doctor prior to an appointment being offered. This is to ensure that patients with urgent or serious conditions can receive timely care.
If you are experiencing an emergency, please do not wait for an appointment and go to your nearest Emergency Department.
Triage decisions are based on clinical need and available appointment spots.
When appropriate and suitable, a procedure can be arranged without a prior consultation in our rooms. This is done via the Rapid Access pathway (Scroll down this page or get more info HERE). This can avoid unnecessary delays. In such cases, you will be sent a medical consent via Consentic, and Dr Keegan will speak with you in the hospital on the day, before and after the procedure.
Post-procedure RESULTS are also triaged. If you have a non-urgent result and want a consultation to discuss further, you will be offered the clinically-appropriate spot.
Urgent results are actioned with high priority.
We understand waiting for medical care can feel stressful.
Our triage system is designed to be:
If you have concerns about your symptoms, please contact us so we can review your situation. If it is an emergency, please do not wait for an appointment and go to your nearest Emergency
Please make sure you confirm where you are having your procedure.
SYDNEY ADVENTIST HOSPITAL (SAN)
185 Fox Valley Road
Wahroonga NSW 2076
DEE WHY ENDOSCOPY UNIT
Level 4, Suite 4402, Dee Why Grand
834 Pittwater Road
Dee Why NSW 2099
NORTH SHORE PRIVATE HOSPITAL
3 Westbourne Street
St Leonards NSW 2065
PITTWATER DAY SURGERY
202/20 Bungan Street
Mona Vale NSW 2103
RAMSAY SURGICAL CENTRE ORANGE
Bloomfield Medical Centre
Level 4/1521 Forest Rd
Orange NSW 2800
We kindly ask that you plan ahead for your appointment to ensure you can attend on time. If your plans change, please let us know as early as possible so we can offer the appointment to another patient who may need it. Please see the cancellation policy below.
Please arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment so you have time to settle in, check in with our team, and complete any final administrative steps.
Bring all relevant information as listed below:
Once your booking is confirmed, you will receive SMS reminders closer to the date.
We will email you the details of your consult on the day of the appointment. You will get the Video Telehealth link via email and SMS.
You do not need to download anything. All you have to do is click the link, follow the instructions, and you will be taken to an online waiting room, much like a real-life doctor’s waiting room.
We endeavour to be on time, but sometimes there are factors outside our control that may impact the actual time you are seen. Please add some buffer time around your appointment. We appreciate your understanding.
CONSULTATION FEES
Consultations with Dr Keegan are billed privately. The full consultation fee is payable on the day of your appointment. *Medicare rebates are paid to the patient after a claim is lodged. Please send us an email at reception@drmathewkeegan.com to enquire about current fees.
Telehealth Consultation Fees & Payment Process
For Telehealth consultations, fees are payable prior to your appointment. This confirms your booking and allows us to schedule the consultation properly.
Is Telehealth the Same Cost as a Face-to-Face Appointment?
Yes. Telehealth consultations are charged at the same rate as in-person consultations.
Clinical assessment, preparation and medical decision-making involved are the same, regardless of how the consultation is delivered. Telehealth is simply a different method of providing the same specialist care, and the quality and depth of the consultation remain unchanged.
The Medicare rebate amount is the same for an initial consultation regardless of whether it is by Telehealth or face-to-face. *$151.90 as of Nov 2025. The gap or out-of-pocket costs for consultations are the same for both Telehealth and face-to-face consultations.
Medicare rules around Initial and Follow-up consultations
There are Medicare rules around initial and follow-up consultations. Feel free to ask our friendly staff if you would like to understand them.
Quality-focused specialists adhere to the highest standards of care in giving each patient the most comprehensive review. The time and care given to a patient extend far beyond the time you spend in a consultation room with your doctor. The comprehensive and extensive reviews before and after seeing a patient is the kind of care you can expect from medical practitioners who take pride in the quality of their care.
PROCEDURE FEES
*To ensure you are properly covered by your health insurance for the procedure you are booking for, please check your level of cover with your health fund before booking an appointment or paying the patient gap for a procedure.
Definition of Terms: What is a Gap, Known Gap & Excess?
Please send us an email at reception@drmathewkeegan.com to enquire about specific fees.
A “known gap” applies to all endoscopic procedures with Dr Keegan and varies by procedure type. To secure your booking, payment of the quoted gap is required when you make your booking and at the latest 7 days before your procedure. If payment is not received by this time, your booking may be offered to another patient on the waitlist.
Before any procedure, we provide clear informed financial consent so you know exactly what to expect. You’ll receive a fee estimate outlining the item numbers relevant to your procedure. Please take this information to your private health fund to check your health-fund coverage and any applicable rebates.
Anaesthetist fees (and in some cases, pathology fees) and fees of other doctors involved in your care are billed separately by those providers. For hospital fees, please check with the hospital directly.
Please note, on the day of hospital admission, you may have to pay an Excess, which is an agreement between you and your Health Fund and will have been in your contract with them. It is not related to the doctors or the practice. Please check this with your private health fund.
Please note: Final charges may vary depending on findings or additional procedures. Actual rebates and out-of-pocket costs may vary depending on your procedure, health-fund level, and hospital arrangements.
COMMON MBS ITEM NUMBERS
We strongly recommend taking the item numbers to your health fund to check whether you are covered in your policy. Common MBS Item Numbers include:
SELF-INSURING
If you are uninsured and would still like your procedure with Dr Keegan at a private day surgery, you may “self-insure” or pay the full fees yourself.
RAPID ACCESS ENDOSCOPY
Your GP may refer you directly for a screening or diagnostic procedure (after a safety assessment) without needing an initial specialist consultation prior to the procedure. This means, you can be scheduled for a procedure rather promptly.
Rapid Access (sometimes also referred to as Open Access or Direct Access) procedures are available for eligible patients with specific and limited indications and without certain medical conditions that place them at higher risk for an endoscopic procedure.
If I go straight to a procedure, does that mean the next time I see the specialist will be counted as a ‘follow up consult’?
No. Rapid Access means the usual order of seeing a specialist (i.e. initial consultation before procedure) is reversed to give you quicker access to the endoscopic procedure. Therefore, the first consultation after the procedure is an ‘initial consultation’.
Your medical information, along with your privacy and confidentiality, are always treated with care, priority and professionalism. You’ll find that our caring admin staff are friendly, helpful, professional and highly competent.
Our team carries out their duties with the highest level of professionalism and care for every single one of our patients’ wellbeing.
ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY
Dealing with health issues is stressful, we understand this. Trust and respect are the building blocks of a positive, fruitful and successful doctor-patient relationship. This includes our team being treated with respect.
Our medical secretaries are highly trained and there will be matters over which they have no control. They are supported by our Zero Tolerance Policy around foul language and aggressive behaviour.
Our cancellation policy is in place to support safe, timely, and high-quality care for all our patients. We understand that plans can change, and our cancellation policy exists to ensure your care, and the care of others, remains safe and well coordinated.
Many gastroenterology appointments and procedures often require careful preparation, including bowel prep, medication changes, fasting, and coordination with hospital and theatre teams. When appointments are confirmed, these resources are reserved specifically for you.
Letting us know early if you need to make changes allows us to offer urgent appointments to other patients who may need help quickly, use theatre time efficiently, and keep the care pathway safe for everyone.
CONSULTATION APPOINTMENTS
If you need to change your appointment, please give us more than 48 hours’ notice. Cancellations made with less than 48 hours’ notice may incur a $100 late cancellation fee, and a non-attendance fee may apply for missed appointments. These policies help us keep appointments available for patients who may need care urgently.
PROCEDURES
As mentioned above, payment of the quoted gap is required as soon as you make your booking and at the latest 7 days before your procedure to secure your booking. If payment is not received by this time, your booking may be offered to another patient on the waitlist.
Cancellations with more than 5 days’ notice may be rescheduled without charge. Cancellations with less than 5 days’ notice will result in the payment becoming non-refundable.
Five days’ notice is required to allow safe bowel preparation, medication adjustments and the timely reallocation of theatre time to patients with urgent clinical needs, such as cancer.
For medical or unforeseen emergencies with a medical certificate or documentation, we are happy to reschedule at no charge.
If you have any questions about any of the information on this page, please feel free to call us at 02 9090 4333 or email reception@drmathewkeegan.com.
Screening is recommended from age 45. Since 1 July 2024, the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program covers everyone aged 45 to 74. If you’re 45 to 49 you can request your first free home test kit; if you’re 50 to 74 a kit is mailed to you automatically every two years. You can request a kit, or check when your next one is due, through the National Cancer Screening Register on 1800 627 701 or at health.gov.au/nbcsp. Bowel cancer often develops with no symptoms at all, which is why screening at the recommended age matters even when you feel well.
The home test looks for hidden blood; a colonoscopy looks directly inside the bowel. The national screening kit is an immunochemical faecal occult blood test (iFOBT/FIT). It’s a simple test you do at home that detects tiny amounts of blood in your stool that are not visible to the eye. It’s the right first step for people at average risk and no symptoms. But if you have already seen blood with the naked eye or have other symptoms, talk to your GP about a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is a procedure performed by a specialist that allows the bowel lining to be examined directly and any polyps removed in the same session. This reduces your future bowel cancer risk. A positive home test, having symptoms, or a significant family history are the usual reasons a colonoscopy is recommended.
A positive result means blood was detected, which needs follow-up. It does not, on its own, mean you have cancer. Blood in the stool has several possible causes, and the purpose of the next step is to find out which one applies to you. The recommended follow-up after a positive iFOBT is a colonoscopy, usually arranged through your GP’s referral to a gastroenterologist. Acting on a positive result promptly is the single most useful thing you can do, because it’s how early, treatable changes are found.
Yes. Some symptoms warrant seeing a doctor rather than waiting for a routine kit. Screening is for people without symptoms. If you notice persistent changes such as blood in your stool, a lasting change in bowel habit, unexplained weight loss, ongoing abdominal pain, or unexplained tiredness that could point to low iron, it’s worth seeing your GP promptly. These may have a benign explanation, but they should be assessed rather than monitored at home.
Possibly. A family history can mean screening should start earlier or use a colonoscopy rather than the home test. The national program is designed for people at average risk. If a parent, sibling or child has had bowel cancer or polyps, particularly at a younger age, your own risk may be higher, and a different screening schedule may be appropriate. This is worth discussing with your GP or with us, so the timing and type of screening can be matched to your individual history.
A colonoscopy is a day procedure, usually performed under sedation, so most people are comfortable and remember little of it. A thin, flexible camera is used to examine the lining of the large bowel, and any polyps found can typically be removed at the same time. The procedure itself usually takes around 20 to 40 minutes, though you’ll be at the facility for several hours allowing for preparation and recovery. We’ll talk through exactly what to expect before the day.
They sound similar but are different conditions. IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is a disorder of how the gut functions. It causes real and often distressing symptoms such as pain, bloating and altered bowel habits, but it doesn’t damage the bowel. IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, involves actual inflammation that can damage the bowel and needs ongoing medical management. Because the symptoms overlap, testing is sometimes needed to tell them apart, and the treatment approaches are quite different.
Advanced or interventional endoscopy is a group of specialised techniques that can treat some conditions endoscopically, where open or keyhole surgery was once the only route. Using a flexible camera passed through the mouth or bowel, a trained specialist can remove certain growths, open narrowed areas, place stents, or examine and treat the bile and pancreatic ducts without external incisions. Whether one of these approaches is suitable depends on the specific condition and is assessed case by case.
The decision depends on your individual situation, chiefly the nature of the lesion and how early it is, and it is made through assessment rather than as a blanket rule. Factors such as the size, depth, location and pathology of a lesion all influence whether it can be treated endoscopically or is better managed with surgery. In many cases the options are weighed together, often with input from a surgeon, so the approach chosen is the one best suited to you. For some patients, this includes presenting their case at a multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting, where gastroenterologists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists and other specialists review the findings together and agree on the most appropriate approach. Dr Keegan works closely with surgical colleagues, so where more than one option exists, the recommendation reflects that combined expertise rather than a single viewpoint. The aim is the safest, most effective treatment for your circumstances, rather than a single method applied to everyone.
