Always pleasant, very through, does not rush you and no question is a stupid one and does not brush you off as being silly or anything. Recommend him to anyone, his staff gets back to you promptly, I have been seeing him for a few years now, very happy with him

Submitted Jan. 23, 2024

Dr O’Callaghan has always been helpful, caring and a great level of knowledge. Have been seeing him for many years and am extremely happy. Have blood tests regularly and he will phone you immediately results are through if there is a problem. I would highly recommend him.

Submitted May 19, 2023

I find Dr o’ Callaghan to be caring and knowledgeable. He is so kind and caring. His admin staff are another matter. , terrible and rude.

Submitted Nov. 23, 2022

Highly recommend. Very experienced. Controlled my rheumatoid arthritis with medication.

Submitted July 5, 2022

Do not go to this Dr. There is no way of contacting his receptionist. I was unable to obtain a receipt. Therefor could not claim my Medicare rebate. Several messages and emails were not responded to. I have another appointment booked. I can’t even reach them to cancel. Very poor service. Never encountered such poor service from a specialist or the receptionist.

Submitted June 16, 2022

Dr O'Callaghan was thorough and pleasant, but thats were good service ended. I had misgivings after reading online reviews about Bremer Specialist Centre and I should have asked my GP for a new referral as they were true. Initial consultation was hard to get into and different receptionists took my phone calls to set up an appointment and one was very rude about how to get my referral across to them before appointment as they will not book you in until they receive it first. Previous specialists I've been to just ask you to bring it in at time of first consultation.
Then after consultation the Dr asked to see me in 6 weeks time as he was sending me for xrays and would give me the results then. I was told be a rude receptionist who complained to me about the Dr always doing this to her when appointments were already booked out. She told me she couldn't book me in at all and Idhave to go on a cancellation list along with alot of other patients. 9 weeks later I am still waiting for a call to say I can see him. Do not know what they expect people to do if they work, cannot wait at home all day hoping a cancellation will happen. Why take on new patients if there are no appointments? And only one nice person in the reception area who seemed to be a new employee who was quite young. Will be asking my GP if they can get my xray results for me and move to another specialist.

Submitted May 16, 2022

I can't give doctor a fair rating at the moment, as I've only seen him once for the initial appointment. So I can only read him on the staff employees and if there was a 0, they would all be 0. I'll get back to you after the second appointment.
But as you can see in many other posts I'll be surprised if that's before the end of this year 2022.
I am really regretting calling them at all. But that's where my GP sent the referral. I'm currently speaking to the ACCC for refund so I can start a new with a competent service, and the Occupational Health Ombudsman (OHO) to have this disgusting health service to be rectified. I would highly encourage you to do the do the same if you've had any situations that are similar to the following.
It took 4 weeks for Margaret who's apparently Joseph receptionist to make the initial pointment.
The first appointment was a ridiculous $395 for 20 minutes.
When I eventually got to speak to Margaret She told me I could pay the gap and then send the cheque to the doctor.
But when I got to the Bremer Bremer Centre, they instructed me it needs to be paid in full.
As I had only taken $200 to cover the gap I gave them this money and told them I would have to make the other instalment $195 as soon as possible at a later date. They um'd and ar'd, and eventually said that was ok, but they really didn't have any option anyway.
When I contacted them a week later and made the extra payment, the Bremer centre Mark my receipt as NOT paid in full and requested that the money that was meant to go to me into my account from Medicare, to be paid by cheque to them. They would be making $650 not the ridiculous $395 for 20 min.
After many emails and arguments because there is gross incompetence in communication between Margaret and the Bremer centre (and it will all be made out by both parties to be the fault of the patient.)
Once I was able to get through to both parties who struggle with basic logic, took my bank account number and then done nothing but told me the money would be in my account the next day. And It incompetently wasn't.
I ring back today and they say that Margaret is to do the transaction after they instructed me they had done it.
So I contract Margaret and it's the same again. She has no idea what's going on, BUT she has my bank account details.
Both Margaret and the reception at Bremer and nothing short of gross incompetence.
Save your money, your time, your breath and your stress levels.do not go to this doctor or this centre do so at your own risk it will be twice as much as other rheumatologists, and 4 times the hassle.
Don't expect to hear back anytime soon about your follow-up appointment, good luck with that 🤯

Submitted April 28, 2022

My wife has been a patient for many years, knowledge and thoroughness is great . Booking system is poor , but when you have a regular appointment reliable as clockwork.

Submitted Feb. 10, 2022

Very hard to contact. Have left a dozen messages over a month to try to get script and no reply. Definitely wouldn't recommend.

Submitted Feb. 10, 2022

Have been seeing Joe for about 12 years now and he has always been hard to get in to see for an appointment. Like others have mentioned, he seldom replies to messages and is hard to organise an appointment when a new script is needed. Currently I've been trying to see him for the last month as my scripts have run out. Would like to go to another rheumatologist, however there are only about a handful of them in SE Qld and again they are hard to get in and see.

Submitted Oct. 26, 2021