Royal Perth Hospital respiratory outpatient referral update
Although the recently published Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Referral Access Criteria (RAC) are not yet mandatory, the East Metropolitan Health Service encourage GPs to become familiar with and start using the Respiratory RAC as soon as possible. There are long waiting times for non-urgent respiratory referrals at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), and adequate referral information, and in some cases, spirometry, is essential to assist safe and timely triage and review.
Additional information is also available under Respiratory on Clinician Assist WA. Especially useful for spirometry is the Spirometry Testing and Evaluation Pathway or if you need to refer to another community provider to perform spirometry or other respiratory function tests, see the Respiratory Function Testing Pathway.
GPs can self-log CPD hours for the time spent learning about RACs and/or reviewing referrals to ensure they comply.
Adult Immunology RAC will be mandatory from 11 November 2024 so please start using these immediately also. Other mandatory RACs include:
- Adult ENT, Gastrointestinal direct access endoscopy, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Rheumatology and Urology.
- Paediatric ENT and Endocrinology and diabetes.
More information is available at the WA Health website.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Bentley Hospital, EMHS
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Generally available Monday and Thursday
October 2023
Oncology inpatients return to Royal Perth Hospital
Patients with breast, colorectal, lung and metastatic prostate cancer who require specialist inpatient care can now be admitted at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) under the governance of a medical oncologist.
The WA Department of Health has approved a restricted, Level 5 medical oncology service in the next phase of the East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) Cancer Services Plan. An inpatient oncology unit at RPH will provide continuity of care and support EMHS catchment patients in accessing urgent chemotherapy, tumour specific multidisciplinary case conferences, palliative care and pain management service
In addition, 24-hour access to dedicated medical oncology consultants will facilitate the management of emergency presentations and oncological emergencies.
The RPH Medical Oncology Inpatient Service will build upon a well-established Outpatient Service supported by a multidisciplinary team (MDT). Members of the MDT include: nursing, physiotherapy, social work, Aboriginal health liaison, clinical psychology, GP survivorship physician, pharmacy, dietetics, speech pathology and occupational therapy.
Referrals to the RPH Medical Oncology Service can be made via the Central Referral Service provided patients have tissue diagnosis to confirm primary site of malignant disease.
Immediate outpatient referrals (requiring review within seven days) must be discussed with a RPH medical oncologist on 9224 2244 followed by a referral sent to the RPH Referral Office via rph.outpatientreferrals@health.wa.gov.au
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Bentley Hospital, EMHS
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Generally available Monday and Thursday
October 2023
Ensuring timely review by Royal Perth Hospital Breast Clinic
Including imaging and pathology results with Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) Breast Clinic referrals can expedite your patient’s care, but what tests do you need to arrange?
A complete work up of breast lumps prior to surgical review includes the triple assessment:
- Physical examination.
- Mammogram and ultrasound of breasts and axilla are required for baseline imaging of suspected breast cancers.
- Core biopsy of the breast lesion(s) is preferred to fine needle aspiration.
Referrals should include mammogram, ultrasound and pathology reports including receptor status (if available). If you are unable to attach reports, please paste results into the body of the referral AND include investigation date(s) and facilities where investigations were performed.
Patients with all required imaging and pathology results provided on referral can bypass breast physician assessment and be booked directly with a breast surgeon to facilitate earlier treatment. Patients who require biopsy or further investigations are triaged to the breast physician clinic for triple assessment completion before the breast physician can refer patients who need surgical treatment to a breast surgeon.
Please refer to the HealthPathways WA Breast Symptoms Pathway for more information.
The RPH Breast Clinic aims to see patients with diagnosed or suspected of breast cancer within two to four weeks of receipt of referral from the Central Referral Service, and also provides services for screen-detected breast cancers in collaboration with the screening clinics.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Generally available Monday and Thursday
April 2023
Royal Perth Hospital to cease mailed discharge summaries if sent by secure messaging or fax
From Monday 1 May, Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) will transition to no longer posting a hard copy of discharge summaries to recipients who have already been sent a copy by secure messaging or fax.
Practices may still receive a hard copy in addition to the securely messaged or faxed copy as RPH changes over. Patients will continue to be given a hard copy if the summary has been finalised before they are discharged.
GP requests have prompted this change. This aligns with other hospitals and with RPH outpatient letters which are also not posted if they’ve been securely messaged or faxed.
To change your practice’s preferred receival method:
- If your practice still receives faxed summaries, please consider changing to secure messaging which the RACGP Position Statement recommends as more reliable and secure than fax.
- If your practice still receives summaries by mail only, you can change to secure electronic (preferred) or faxed discharge summaries and outpatient letters, please email RPH.GPN.Coordinator@health.wa.gov.au, telephone 9224 3673 or fax 9224 2348. For more information, see Royal Perth Hospital – Communication.
If you haven’t received a summary:
- Please check your patient’s My Health Record if you haven’t received your patient’s discharge summary or outpatient letter or to see hospital pathology or imaging results.
- General practices can otherwise email requests to RPH Health Information Management Services at rph.infocentre@health.wa.gov.au. For more information on request requirements, please see the ‘patient information’ tab on Contacts for GPs
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Generally available Monday and Thursday
July 2022
Royal Perth Bentley Group: Referrals to named consultants
Please avoid addressing referrals to specific RPH and Bentley Hospital consultants by name wherever possible. Referring to the speciality without naming a consultant allows the referral to be allocated to any suitable qualified specialist within the speciality so that your patient receives the first available appointment for their clinical triage urgency (urgent, semi-urgent, routine).
Referrals to named consultants follow these same booking principles however as they are limited to only one consultant’s clinic, patients often end up waiting longer to be seen as some RPBG consultants only provide a fortnightly or monthly clinic.
However, if you have discussed a case with a particular consultant or registrar, please include the name of the doctor you spoke with on the referral.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
June 2022
Royal Perth Hospital now welcomes electronic GP requests for health records
Unable to find the information you need about your patient’s care at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) in their My Health Record? General practices can now email requests to RPH Health Information Management Services on rph.infocentre@health.wa.gov.au
The request must include:
- Full patient name
- Date of birth
- Medical record number (if known)
- Information requirements
- Patient signature (not required if the requesting practice is listed on RPH systems as the patient’s current GP) – please attach a scanned signed authority on practice letterhead if emailing
- If emailing, a comprehensive email signature which includes the practice address, phone number and website (if applicable) to validate the request
- Email address the information should be sent to, if not the requestor’s email – this must be a practice email. Please note documents will only be able to access and download by the email address that the documents are emailed to. This cannot be forwarded to another staff member in the practice to download it on your behalf.
Royal Perth Hospital uses My File Transfer (MyFT) to electronically send previous medical records securely, which is preferred to fax. If you don’t have an existing MyFT account, a Recipient User account will automatically be created the first time you receive a file via MyFT from WA Health and you will be prompted to create a MyFT password and activate your account. Once set up, you will be able to access and download files sent to you. For more information, please see the MyFT WA Health User Guide.
RPH Health Information Management Services only deal with heath record requests from other health professionals and services. Please DO NOT send referrals or other queries to them, as this may delay care. Please direct patients enquiring about their medical records to Accessing Health Records.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
May 2022
Royal Perth Bentley Group Geriatric Assessment Team Ambulatory Unit
The Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) Geriatric Assessment Team (GAT) now offers an ambulatory service with six beds which welcome GP referrals. GPs can contact the RPH Acute Geriatrics GP Hotline (via the RPH switchboard on 9224 2244) between 8am-6pm on weekdays if concerned about a patient aged ≥ 65 years/Aboriginal patient ≥ 50 years who lives or is staying in the RPBG catchment area and would benefit from early assessment by a consultant geriatrician. Out of business hours, the switchboard will continue to direct GP calls for urgent geriatrics advice to the on-call geriatrics consultant.
The GAT also provides timely specialist geriatrics decision making and multidisciplinary care to older patients attending the RPH emergency department (ED) and may contact you if one of your patients presents to ED. The GAT consultant performs an early comprehensive geriatric assessment to promote safe discharge from hospital and reduce readmission to hospital. The GAT encourages direct referrals from GP’s and other specialties to facilitate direct community reviews and admissions, bypassing the emergency department and can facilitate early referral to community-based services for ongoing assessment.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
November 2021
Royal Perth Hospital – “GP Notify” System Not Operational
The RPH “GP Notify” system has been turned off since 15 September 2021 and a solution is still under investigation for technical problems which caused multiple duplicate notifications to be sent.
“GP Notify” is the system RPH uses to send GPs automated notifications about their patient’s admission, discharge or death by fax or email.
Other communications such as discharge summaries or outpatient letters are NOT affected by GP Notify being out of action and will continue as usual.
RPH apologises for any inconvenience if you received duplicate notifications and/or for lack of notifications until a solution is identified.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
June 2021
Royal Perth and Bentley Hospitals – Outpatient Clinic Letter Secure Messaging to GPs
Royal Perth Bentley Group is excited to be able to deliver one of the key improvements requested by GPs in the East Metropolitan Health Service Communication for Safety 2020 GP Survey.
Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) and Bentley Hospital commenced secure messaging to deliver most outpatient clinic letters to GPs in June 2021.
Key points:
- If you currently receive secure electronic discharge summaries from Royal Perth Hospital, we have your correct details. No action is needed.
- If your contact details or list of doctors working at your practice require checking or alteration, please telephone 9224 3673, fax: 9224 2348 or email on RPH.GPN.Coordinator@health.wa.gov.au
- If we do not have secure messaging details and we have your fax number, we will fax the letter instead, because this will still reach you sooner than snail mail.
- Where a letter appears to have been successfully transmitted by secure messaging or fax, a hard copy of that outpatient letter will NOT be mailed.
- Where we do not have your secure messaging code or fax number or the letter is not able to be transmitted, the letter will be sent by post.
- Letters from clinics that do not have this facility will continue to be mailed for now (unless manually faxed if urgent).
- If you receive an outpatient letter for a patient who does not attend your practice, please contact the RPH Medical Typing Unit by telephone on 647 75299, fax on 6477 5271 or by email on rph.clinicletters@health.wa.gov.au (include patient name, DoB, medical record number, speciality and date of letter).
- Most RPH and Bentley outpatient letters as well as outpatient and inpatient pathology and imaging results are also now uploaded to the patient’s My Health Record. Please check your patient’s My Health Record for information needed before requesting from medical records, pathology, or imaging.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
June 2021
Royal Perth Hospital Colorectal Survivorship GP
Royal Perth Bentley Group (RPBG) recently welcomed Dr Rachel Hammond, who has joined the team as the Colorectal Survivorship General Practitioner (GP).
Rachel will play a vital role in the implementation and success of the new Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Surveillance and Survivorship Pathway that was implemented as part of the East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) Cancer plan in late 2020.
Rachel runs a weekly outpatient clinic to manage medium risk colorectal cancer patients once they have completed their initial treatment and aims to improve communication and collaboration with GPs and provide increased support for patients and their own GP during transition to care in the community. Rachel will help develop and implement a Survivorship Care Plan document.
‘I feel very privileged to be in this role at RPH and hope to deliver holistic care, improved communication with primary care providers and thereby build trust and confidence for patients with a colorectal cancer diagnosis’ says Rachel.
A large thank you also goes to Dr Ru-Wen Teh (Head of Department, Oncology) and Dr Mary Theophilus (Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon) for their efforts in making this new pathway possible.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
March 2021
Royal Perth Hospital – Are you receiving your GP Notifications of patient admission, discharge or death?
If not, please re-register for GP Notify by advising, or asking your practice manager to phone or fax the RPH GP Notify Coordinator on the new contact numbers.
Phone 9224 3673 or fax 9224 2348 or email RPH.GPN.Coordinator@health.wa.gov.au, including:
- GP name(s) and provider numbers.
- Practice name and address, phone, fax and the generic email for your practice – The Patient Administration System used across WA Health can only register one email address for GP Notify per practice. The email address for your practice is therefore preferred over individual email addresses.
- Whether you’d prefer to receive GP Notify by fax or email (secure electronic messaging is not available for GP Notify, although it is used to send inpatient discharge summaries – the GP Notify Coordinator can arrange this if you include your practice’s EDI code).
What is GP Notify?
GP Notify is an automated notification system that informs the patient’s nominated GP (where registered) about patient admission, discharge and death at RPH by email or fax.
I used to get GP Notify from RPH–why did they stop?
GP Notify needed to be reset in 2018 due to technical issues, and GP registrations were lost. A number of GPs and practices responded to notices that they needed to re-register, but it appears a large number missed the communication.
I asked to get GP Notify by email, but they are being faxed. Why and can I change this?
A technical issue led to all new GP Notify registrations over an extended period being defaulted to fax instead of email. If you would like GP Notifications to be sent to your practice by email, please advise the GP Notify Coordinator as above (noting that only one email address per practice can be used).
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
November 2020
Telehealth commitment continues at Royal Perth and Bentley Hospitals
Royal Perth Bentley Group (RPBG) is continuing to encourage the use of telehealth to all outpatients where clinically appropriate to stay COVID-safe and minimise the risk to the community, should there be a second wave community transmission in WA. This is also in response to positive patient feedback.
During the initial COVID-19 WA response, Telehealth consultations allowed RPBG to continue to deliver outpatient services while helping to reduce the risk to patients and healthcare workers.
Following feedback that patients enjoy telehealth and the associated benefits, the service has committed to offering telehealth appointments to outpatients where clinically appropriate. Some of these benefits include saving time from not having to wait in clinics, as well as reducing travel commitments – particularly important for regional and remote patients. While both video and telephone telehealth consultations are available, patients are encouraged to opt for video-consultations where possible.
Activity across all telehealth specialties at RPBG is steadily increasing. As patients are choosing to attend their appointments by telehealth more often, RPBG staff are continuing to develop their Digital Health services in collaboration with GPs and other community providers.
For more information about RPBG Telehealth Outpatient Services, please contact 9224 2417 or RPH.Telehealth@health.wa.gov.au
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith,
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
September 2020
Royal Perth Hospital/Diabetes WA Collaboration
Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) is collaborating with Diabetes WA (DWA) to offer patients services from Diabetes WA whilst they await their RPH Diabetes Clinic appointment.
Patients and GPs will be advised by RPH if DWA has been asked to make contact. DWA will contact patients to provide information about diabetes self-management, groups and resources relevant to them. Patients who decide not to accept the support will not have their place on the waitlist for a RPH appointment affected. In addition, for patients who live in regional areas of WA, the possibility of Endocrinologist review via the DWA Telehealth service or a visiting specialist, and/or Credentialed Diabetes Educator Telehealth appointment(s) will also be explored.
Dr Seng Khee Gan, Endocrinology and Diabetes Head of Department said, “This new program aims to enrich the patient journey from the time of referral; and maximise value and input from tertiary services and Diabetes WA in a complementary fashion, with a focus on the patient and their clinical needs.”
Patients can be referred directly to Diabetes WA for diabetes education or for MyDESMOND – online diabetes education. More information on diabetes services can be found on HealthPathways WA Diabetes Requests. If needed, please Request a login or email healthpathways@wapha.org.au
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith, Hospital
Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
Royal Perth Hospital outpatient letter faxing
From Monday 21 September 2020, letters from some RPH outpatient clinics will be automatically faxed to GPs. This will allow GPs to receive outpatient correspondence more quickly and is an interim measure while we work towards secure messaging of outpatient letters.
Where a fax appears to have been successfully transmitted, a hard copy of that outpatient letter will NOT be mailed. Letters from clinics that do not have this facility will continue to be mailed for now, as will letters from Bentley Health Service (unless manually faxed if urgent). Where we do not have your fax number or the fax is not able to be transmitted, the letter will be mailed by post.
Please be sure RPH has your correct fax number. If you currently receive faxed GP notifications or discharge summaries from Royal Perth Hospital, we have your correct fax number. If your contact details or list of doctors working at your practice require checking or alteration, please telephone 9224 3673, fax: 9224 2348 or email on RPH.GPN.Coordinator@health.wa.gov.au
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith, Hospital
Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
Royal Perth Bentley Group – Discharge of Outpatients not booked or planned for further review
A routine audit has identified patients previously been seen in Royal Perth or Bentley outpatients who do not have any further appointments booked or planned with that speciality but have not formally had their outpatient care discharged from our database.
Letters will be sent to the recorded GP of any patient who will be discharged under this audit.
Patients will receive a letter if their last outpatient appointment with that speciality was in the past two years.
If your patient requires further outpatient care that was not envisaged at the time of last outpatient review, please re-assess the patient and send an updated referral to the Central Referral Service.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith, Hospital
Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email:Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
July 2020
RPH Pain Clinic – Did you know?
Due to significant demand, the waiting list for Royal Perth Pain Clinic appointments is extremely long. Please advise your patients of this prior to referral and offer them other options if possible, especially referral into community-based pain programs. The Pain Management HealthPathways are a valuable resource, especially the information on Interdisciplinary Persistent Pain Programs.
After an initial one day ‘pain education program’ appointment, patients can select appointments with members of the RPH multidisciplinary pain management team. Following assessment a letter including a pain management plan is sent to the patient’s GP to action.
Please advise every patient you refer to RPH for pain management that cannabis products are not prescribed by the RPH Multidisciplinary Pain Management Centre as there is not enough evidence to support cannabis prescribing for persistent pain (http://fpm.anzca.edu.au/documents/pm10-2018.pdf and NICE guidelines ).
Often patients are attending expecting a cannabis prescription which is not clear from the referral. It is very frustrating for patients to wait long periods for a Pain Clinic appointment only to attend and find this will not be recommended or prescribed by our service.
Similarly, evidence shows that for most patients with chronic non-cancer pain, opioids do not provide clinically important improvement in pain or function compared with placebo and in order to reduce opioid-related harm, the service does not generally recommend opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. The ANZCA Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) recently reviewed their Statement regarding the use of opioid analgesics in patients with chronic non-cancer pain.
Consumer and health professional resources on opioids are available on the TGA prescription opioids and NPS MedicineWise or Chronic Non-Cancer Pain HealthPathway.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
Email: Jacquie.Garton-Smith@health.wa.gov.au
Mondays and Thursdays
June 2020
RPH Cardiometabolic Clinic –patients on Evolocumab
In the future, GPs will be asked to take over management of patients with hypercholesterolaemia who have remained stable with minimal side effects after more than 6 months to one year of Evolocumab (Repatha) injections.
Evolocumab is a well-tolerated, injectable monoclonal antibody against proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) with streamlined PBS authority listings that GPs can utilise for patients who:
- Have heterozygous or homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) or non-familial hypercholesterolaemia; and
- Fail to achieve guideline recommended cholesterol targets on maximally tolerated doses of statins and ezetimibe (including those who are statin intolerant); and
- Have previously received PBS-subsidised treatment with this drug for these conditions.
Evolocumab is well tolerated, the most common minimal reported side effects are:
- Local injection site reactions
- Nasal congestion
- Back ache
Handover to GPs seeing patients on Evolocumab will occur by letter including target lipids. Patients will also be asked to see their GP for repeat prescriptions of Evolocumab, and to monitor therapeutic efficacy and side effects. The Cardiometabolic Clinic will provide additional support as required. For further information and support, please contact the Cardiometabolic Clinic on 9224 8092.
GPs may be interested in the “Hyperlipidaemia” and “Familial Hypercholesterolaemia” HealthPathways.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
jacquie.garton-smith@health.wa.gov.au
Available: Monday and Thursday
March 2020
Royal Perth Hospital GP Notify Fax also available by email
Is your practice receiving GP Notify by fax but would prefer email?
GP Notify is an automated notification system that informs the patient’s nominated GP (where registered) of patient admission, discharge and death at Royal Perth Hospital by email or fax.
A technical issue led to all new GP Notify registrations over an extended period being defaulted to fax instead of email. If you would like GP notifications to be sent to your practice by email, please advise the RPH GP Notify Coordinator that you wish to change, including your name, practice and practice email by phoning 9224 2810, faxing 9224 2860 or emailing RPH.GPN.coordinator@health.wa.gov.au
The Patient Administration System used by WA Health, only allows one email address per practice to be registered for GP Notify. For this reason, an email address for your practice is preferred over individual email addresses.
Please note GP Notify is old technology that cannot be sent by secure messaging. Electronic transmission of discharge summaries is by secure messaging and is preferred to fax or mail alone. If you would like to enrol for secure messaging for inpatient discharge summaries, please refer to the Discharge Summaries section at http://www.rph.wa.gov.au/For-health-professionals/GPs/Communication
RPH apologises for any inconvenience.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
jacquie.garton-smith@health.wa.gov.au
Available: Monday and Thursday
February 2020
Royal Perth Bentley Group increases scope of day surgery
The types of surgery that can safely be performed as day surgery are expanding with some centres aiming for over 70% of all surgery to be undertaken as a day case. Royal Perth Bentley Group (RPBG) is increasing the scope of procedures where the patient can be discharged on the day of surgery to include laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair and an increasing number of breast surgeries.
With good patient selection and post-operative support, the impact on primary care should be minimal.Patients are screened preoperatively for medical, surgical and social factors that may exclude day surgery.Immediately post discharge, patients can call the ward directly with any concerns about their care.
RPBGvalues GP feedback. Please contact Dr Alison Corbett, Clinical Lead at Alison.Corbett@health.wa.gov.au
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
jacquie.garton-smith@health.wa.gov.au
Available: Monday and Thursday
March 2019
Royal Perth Hospital Outpatient Updates – EMHS Catchment Map and “Excluded Procedure” Referral Changes
Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) will shortly be undertaking an audit of existing referrals for selected conditions to clinics with long waiting times, including referrals for excluded procedures (see below). If you receive a letter notifying you that a previously sent referral does not meet the new criteria, the letter will outline how to proceed.
EMHS Metropolitan catchment map
Do you know the East Metropolitan Health Service catchment area so you can contact the correct hospital to urgently refer patients? The East Metropolitan Health Service metropolitan catchment map and postcodes is now available on the RPH website.
The country areas that generally flow to the EMHS are the Kimberley, Pilbara and Wheatbelt.
For patients residing in the EMHS catchment who require urgent referral to RPH Outpatients, please call the RPH switchboard on 9224 2244 and ask to speak to the registrar or consultant of the specialty team required. Unless advised otherwise, please send urgent referrals accepted after discussion to RPH.OutpatientReferrals@health.wa.gov.au or fax 6477 5199 noting who you spoke to and any instructions that you are given or appointments made on your referral.
More information about Outpatient Referrals to RPH can be found on the RPH website under For Health Professionals/GPs/Outpatients.
Excluded procedures Royal Perth Hospital outpatient referral criteria introduced
While the WA Health Excluded Procedures precludes procedures performed for cosmetic or other non?medical reasons, procedures which meet an identified clinical need to improve the health of the patient may be undertaken in public hospitals.
To avoid patients unnecessarily waiting for and attending appointments in cases where surgery cannot be offered at RPH, referral criteria have been established for abdominal lipectomy, breast reduction, blepharoplasty, male circumcision, rhinoplasty and varicose veins.
For criteria and further information, please see the relevant speciality page.
Referrals for these procedures still waiting for a first appointment to be allocated will also be reassessed. If you receive a letter notifying you that a previously-sent referral does not meet the new criteria, the letter will outline how to proceed.
Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith
Hospital Liaison GP, Royal Perth Hospital
jacquie.garton-smith@health.wa.gov.au
Available: Monday and Thursday