Is this normal in private land?

I’ve done private assisting here and there for <10 surgeons over the years, don’t have any regular lists. Previous surgeons I have worked with complete a financial consent with the patient explaining there may be a gap fee for the assistant surgeon (amongst other things), and I invoice whatever the surgeon directs me to based on their discussions with the patient. I don’t usually charge any gap, this is just for patients that are self-funded, or for surgeries where there is no assist fee.

I myself am about to be a patient in private and have had the same paperwork about gap fees and assistant surgeons handed to me by my consultant’s rooms.

For the case in question, the surgeon directed me to charge a gap of a couple of hundred dollars and I went ahead and invoiced the patient. I’ve since gotten calls from the patient on my personal mobile asking to explain as it wasn’t covered by medicare. I tried to redirect him to the surgeons’ rooms but he said he tried them already and they redirected to me.

Is this normal? Since I’m not a consultant myself I don’t have any capacity to schedule the patient for an appointment for follow up of their concerns, this could only be done through the surgeon and their rooms staff. It seems a bit unprofessional, but I’m happy to be corrected if this is how it goes?