How to get a referral

Most of our hospital and community services require a written referral from your general practitioner (GP) before we can make an appointment for you.

To get a referral, first speak to your GP about your health care concerns. Your GP will determine if you need specialist treatment and arrange any medicines or tests that are required.

Your GP will then send a written referral letter to a specialist doctor at one of our hospitals.

Depending on the urgency of your condition, you may be placed a wait list for your first “outpatient” appointment with a specialist doctor. After your appointment you may also be placed on an elective surgery wait list.

Read more about how Queensland wait lists work.

Services that don’t need a referral

You do not need a GP referral to access:

• any emergency treatment
• urgent mental health care
• sexual health clinics
• dental health care (provided you meet eligibility criteria).

For GPs

General practitioners can find referral criteria on all of our services and specialties on the Refer your patient section of our website.