Referral Hub

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To enable equitable access to Specialist Outpatient Services, Metro South has adopted the use of state and local referral guidelines, these criteria assist referrers to ensure the clinical urgency of each referral can be assessed in a standardised and consistent manner. More information about state-wide referral guidelines, termed Clinical Prioritisation Criteria (CPC) and their development can be found at https://cpc.health.qld.gov.au/

Frequently Asked Questions

GP Smart Referrals

Smart Referrals is a digital referrals capability enabling faster, streamlined management of referrals to and within Queensland public hospitals. Smart Referral resources for GPs can be found here:  https://www.health.qld.gov.au/clinical-practice/innovation/smart-referrals/smart-referrals-resources.
Enquiries can be made by email to: gpsmartreferrals.msh@health.qld.gov.au

Refer Your Patient Template

A link to the ‘Refer Your Patient referral template’ for use with practice software is available on the Refer Your Patient Website.  Versions are available for best practice, Medical Director, Zed Med and Genie. The template has multiple auto-populating fields to ensure that all relevant standard referral information requirements are fulfilled.

Incomplete Referrals

Sometimes further  information is necessary to triage the patient’s referral and may be returned to the referring GP requesting additional  information. This important letter is faxed to your practice and needs your action to assist the patient to be waitlisted for their health needs. To enable us to promptly process  your patient’s referral to the specialist to triage, it is important to return the original referral along with the additional essential information, as a full and  complete  referral (not just the results) is necessary.

If a specific test result is unable to be obtained due to access, financial, religious, cultural or consent reasons a Clinical Override may be requested. This reason must be clearly articulated in the body of the referral, CRH can then pass the referral on to the specialist for consideration.

Sending your Referral

All new referrals are required to be sent to the CRH  with relevant essential referral information attached.  Your referral only needs to be sent by one means of transmission.  If you are concerned the referral has not been received, please feel free to contact the CRH  on 1300 364 155 to check on the status of your referral.  Please allow 1-2 business days of referral registration.

Marking Referrals as 'Urgent'

If your patient meets the Category 1 criteria, as outlined on the Refer Your Patient website, we ask that the referral be marked as Urgent.  This will help ensure the patients referral is processed as a matter of clinical urgency.  If the patient needs assessment within the 24-48 hours, please contact the appropriate facility and discuss with the specialty Consultant or Registrar regarding the immediate urgency prior to sending a referral to the CRH.

Information about Appointments

Enquiries for outpatient appointments and position on a waiting list and timeframes should be directed to the facility where the appointment is scheduled. Phone numbers are provided on Waitlist letters sent from CRH.

Catchment

Each HHS in Queensland has geographical boundaries applied which support the population in being provided care close to their address. CRH is required to apply catchment modelling to referrals so that patients who reside outside Metro South Catchment area will not be accepted for care by MSH if there is a service available in or nearer to their home catchment. *NB If a service is not available in the patient’s home HHS, they are to be referred to the closest HHS that provides the required service.

Continuing Care Referrals

Continuing Care referrals (for existing patients that are already under the specialist treating team and have not been discharged from the service), referral renewals or referrals provided in response to a named referral request do not need to come via CRH. Any that do come via CRH will be forwarded on to the specialty that has requested them.

General Correspondence

CRH does not process general correspondence, response/requests for discharge letters, results only and other non-referral information – this should be sent directly to the Specialty/Facility providing services to the patient.

Requesting a Clinical Override

Clinical override of referral criteria may be requested in the following situations:

• Inability to include essential referral information – If a specific test result is unable to be obtained due to access, financial, religious, cultural or consent reasons.
• Patient does not meet minimum referral criteria – If the patient does not meet the criteria for the referral but the referring practitioner believes that the patient requires specialist review.
• Presence of clinical modifiers -the presence of clinical modifiers (as listed in the RYP website) may impact on the categorisation of a patient

The reason for request for the Clinical Override should be clearly articulated as part of the referral. The triaging specialist will review the referral and determine the most appropriate course of action.

Community Health Services

Referrals for Community Services such as Chronic Disease services, Rehab@Home, Dementia Outreach Service are not processed by the CRH but through the Community Referral Service (CRS). The processes of the CRS are aligned with the specialist outpatient Central Referral Hub (CRH). The CRS is located with the Community and Oral Health Services, Metro South.  Referrals for community services can be sent via smart referrals, fax – (07) 3156 4382.