Refer a patient

Jean Hailes clinics require a referral for:

• all new patients wishing to see a medical specialist
• patients who have previously seen a medical specialist in our clinics but have not attended within the past 12 months
• patients who have previously seen a medical specialist in our clinics but have a new clinical indication.

Referrals to specialist GPs are recommended for patients with complex medical histories to enable triage that ensures urgent cases are seen faster and the patient is matched with the appropriate clinician for their care.

Referral decisions regarding the most appropriate medical specialist or specialty rests with the referrer. Your experience and knowledge of the medical specialist’s expertise and your patient’s specific needs and circumstances should inform your decision.

The Jean Hailes Clinics triage all referrals to ensure patients are allocated in an appropriate timeframe. This is only possible if a referral contains essential demographic and clinical information.

Referrals that do not provide the necessary information will be returned to you.

All referrals must provide the following information:

1) Patient details:

• Name
• Address
• Date of Birth
• Phone (preferably mobile)
• Medicare number
• Language and interpreter (if required)

2) Referrer details:

• Name of referring health practitioner
• Name and address of Practice
• Practice contact details (phone and fax)
• Provider number
• Date of referral
• Referrer’s signature

3) Essential clinical information (refer to the Table below)

4) All referrals must provide the reason for referral.

All referrals must be sent direct to the Jean Hailes Clinics

Please do not give the referral to your patient as they cannot forward the essential clinical information in a manner consistent with Australian Privacy Principles.

• Fax: (03) 9562 7477
• HealthLink address: jeanhmed
• Argus address: vb-jeanhailes

Please do not email the referrals as this is not a secure channel for sensitive information under the Australian Privacy Principles.

Patient referrals to medical specialists

Referrals to medical specialists — gynaecologists and endocrinologists —must be addressed to either a particular doctor (named referral) or directed to an unnamed doctor (open referral) in that specialty.

Named referrals

Named referrals are preferred for patients who have already consulted with a specialist at Jean Hailes or who express a preference for seeing a particular doctor. Please note that any other specialist practising in that specialty might see the patient, even if a named referral is provided. Your patient may be offered an appointment to see another specialist if the named doctor is no longer accepting new patients or if there is a lengthy waiting time for an appointment with that practitioner.

Open referrals

Open referrals should be addressed to an unnamed specialist, for example “Endocrinologist”, “Gynaecologist”or “Urogynaecologist”. Unnamed referrals will be allocated the first available appointment after triage, which might expedite care. Referrals that do not nominate a speciality may be allocated an appointment with a GP specialist or, in some cases, returned to the referring practitioner.

Patient referrals to GP specialists

GP specialists in the Jean Hailes Clinics are experienced in women’s health and can review and manage a number of complex medical conditions, including abnormal bleeding, colposcopy, contraception and IUD insertion/removal, menopause, PCOS, pelvic pain, and vulval conditions.

Waiting times for GP specialist appointments are often shorter than for medical specialist appointments. Referrals to GP specialists do not need to be named but should outline the reason for referral and any relevant previous investigations (see below for further details).

Essential clinical information required for all referrals

To provide best practice care, a referral must contain relevant clinical information and the results of preliminary investigations.

Specific investigations required for referral for certain clinical conditions - shown in the following table.