"Pensioner specialist visit too expensive"

My mother had her knee replaced around 6 years ago. Her other knee is bad now and her doctor referred her to the same specialist. She went to see him. He saw her for around 10 min and then he told her he couldn't help her as he no longer works with the public hospital doing knee replacements. And that she would have to go back to her GP. And for this she was charged $230. She received $70 back from Medicare. Why was it not mentioned when she made the appointment that the doctor no longer provides this service to public patients - that he is out of the scheme. Why after reading the referral letter and knowing her history did he not give my mother the opportunity to leave his office quickly. Why did he spend 10 min with her to tell her he can't help her. And then charge her this expense. I think it is disgraceful. Patients are being referred to the specialist who treated them under a scheme he no longer participates in. And they have the cheek to still see her and then tell her he can't help. It would have taken 2 minutes to assess that he would not be able to help. Seems so unfair. Who is to blame? The referring doctor for not knowing the specialist no longer participated in the public patient scheme? The specialist for not updating the patient when they made the appointment? Seems like a money making racket to me!