Referral to the Emergency Department
|
ED Admitting Officer - 24hr Access for GPs. This number may be used for referrals from Allied Health and Nursing staff. |
03 5320 4801 |
| Facsimile: |
03 5320 4090 |
|
Director of Emergency Medicine:
|
Dr.Jaycen Cruickshank |
| Nurse Unit Manager: | Mr Phil Catterson 03 5320 6455 |
| Administration Manager: | Mrs Denise Robinson 03 5320 6455 03 5320 4758 (Fax) |
| Hours of operation: | 24 hours |
Referring Doctors are asked to use the Victorian State-wide Referral Form (VSRF)
Ballarat Health Services strongly recommends the use of the VSRF for all referrals to this hospital. When incorporated into your software, this form can autopopulate both demographic and clinical information which will assist in the management of your referral.
All patients presenting to the Emergency Department are assessed on arrival to determine the urgency and severity of their condition. Patients requiring urgent care (including those arriving by ambulance) are classified as category one and seen immediately.
Patients classified as less severe and classified as category two patients, should be seen within ten minutes, category three patients should be seen within 30 minutes with category four and five patients classified as less severe, will wait longer for care.
Although this may seem frustrating for patients waiting to be seen, it does ensure that those people in the most urgent need are seen in the shortest possible time.
Referring to the ED
We recommend that GPs telephone the ED Admitting Officer (AO) on 03 5320 4801 prior to sending patients to the ED. Our AO is also available to provide clinical advice to GPs.
Clinical handover to the Senior Doctor allows your patient to be fast tracked. When a GP refers to ED the admission rate is > 50%, about three times the average. This information assists the Senior Doctor to commence planning of tests, treatment or other referrals required, in conjunction with other ED staff thus avoiding delays for the patient.
While we might make a suggestion about an alternative referral in the best interests of the patient, this is a two way conversation with a GP and no referral from a GP will be refused and it is acknowledged that every patient has a right to be seen in the Emergency Department.
If intervention is not required in the ED, after the ED assessment has occured, a referral letter to the GP with a recommended plan should be the next step. This applies generally in relation to tests taht are not going to be performed during the ED visit. While some patients are reviewed in ED (e.g when asked to return the next morning for x-ray or ultrasound review), review of non emergency tests should not occur in ED.
Patients with unstable conditions should be sent by ambulance: telephone 000.
Please provide a detailed referral including the following information;
- patients name,
- date of birth,
- address, past medical history,
- current medications,
- the current problem and reason for referral,
- any relevant treatment of investigations.
Victorian State-wide Referral Form (VSRF)
For subacute, orthopaedic and plastics cases that are not time critical, we recommend that the GP contacts the Specialist Clinics (Outpatient) Registra and arrange for the patient to be reviewed. This will save the patient waiting for possibly several hours in the ED.
Education Information for patients/visitors
Ballarat Health Services’ Emergency Department have a range patient information sheets, which are available in hard copy in the Emergency Department.
The Better health channel provides plain language patient information sheets as well.
