Useful management information

The Hearing Aid Bank is for Crisis intervention only to assist people to access hearing aids urgently – for routine Hearing Aid dispensing please refer to the Hearing services program

Click here to check patient eligibility for Voucher services

Minimum referral criteria (Does your patient meet the minimum criteria?)

Does your patient meet the minimum referral criteria?

If your patient does not meet the minimum referral criteria

• Consider other treatment pathways or an alternative diagnosis
• If the patient does not meet the criteria for referral but the referring practitioner believes the patient requires specialist review, a clinical override may be requested: Please explain why (e.g. warning signs or symptoms, clinical modifiers, uncertain about diagnosis, etc.)
• Please note that your referral may not be accepted or may be redirected to another service

Standard referral information (To be included in all referrals)

Patient's Demographic Details

• Full name (including aliases)
• Date and country of birth
• Residential and postal address including whether patient resides at an aged care facility
• Telephone contact number/s – home, mobile and alternative
• Medicare number (where eligible)
• Name of the parent or caregiver (if appropriate)
• Name of delegate and contact details (Department of Corrective Services)
• Preferred language and interpreter requirements
• Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Any special needs, access requirements and/or disability relevant to the referral

Referring Practitioner Details

• Full name
• Full address
• Contact details – telephone, fax, email
• Provider number
• Date of referral
• Signature
• Nominated general practitioner’s details (if known), if the nominated general practitioner is different from the referring practitioner

Relevant clinical information about the condition

• Presenting symptoms (evolution and duration)
• Physical findings
• Details of previous treatment (including systemic and topical medications prescribed) including the course and outcome of the treatment
• All conservative options that have been pursued unsuccessfully prior to referral
• Body mass index (BMI)
• Details of any associated medical conditions which may affect the condition or its treatment (e.g. diabetes, BMI), noting these must be stable and controlled prior to referral
• Any special care requirements where relevant (e.g tracheostomy in place, oxygen required)
• Current medications and dosages
• Drug allergies
• Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs use
• A comprehensive capture of information in relation to MSH Referral Criteria

Reason for request

• To establish a diagnosis
• For treatment or intervention
• For advice and management
• For specialist to take over management
• Reassurance for GP/second opinion
• For a specified test/investigation the GP can't order, or the patient can't afford or access
• Reassurance for the patient/family
• For other reason (e.g. rapidly accelerating disease progression)
• Clinical judgement indicates a referral for specialist review is necessary

Clinical modifiers

• Impact on employment
• Impact on education
• Impact on home
• Impact on activities of daily living functioning – low/medium/high
• Impact on ability to care for others
• Impact on personal frailty or safety
• Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

The presence of clinical modifiers may impact the categorisation of the patient.

Other relevant information

• Willingness to have surgery (where surgery is a likely intervention)
• Choice to be treated as a public or private patient
• Compensable status (e.g. DVA, Work Cover, Motor Vehicle Insurance, etc.)

Essential referral information for Hearing Aid Bank (Referral will be returned without this)

• Health Care Card Information/Refugee information
• Audiology reports, including Audiogram covering a minimum of the major speech frequencies (0.5 – 4 kHz) in both ears

Service Locations

• Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital
• UQ Audiology Clinic (St Lucia) - The Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) Hearing Aid Bank program (HAB) has partnered with The University of Queensland (UQ) Audiology Clinic to assist in the delivery of hearing aids to the growing number of patients in genuine need. UQ Audiology clinic only accepts direct referrals from the PAH HAB