Medical patient direct referrals

The Medical Patient Direct Referral Service is designed for patients suitable for direct general medical admission or review in the hospital's rapid assessment clinic.

It is a streamlined process for general medicine patients to gain timely access to acute inpatient care and reducing unnecessary delays in the RMH Emergency.

Important features

• There is no charge to patients for the service
• The service operates from 10am to 9pm, 7 days a week, including public holidays
• On review, patients may not need an inpatient stay, but may be referred on to other RMH services including RMH@Home and the Transition Care Program
• The acute medicine physician is available for phone consultation before you take any action
• A discharge summary will be sent to your practice
• This service is available for stable acute patients and is not a replacement for routine specialist clinic appointments, subspecialty clinics, Residential In Reach or Chronic Wounds

How the service works

• If you have a patient whose medical condition warrants a detailed review or hospitalisation, call our acute medicine physician on 0427 566 159 for a confidential discussion
• If it is agreed that your patient needs to come to the RMH, the referral process will take place over the phone with our acute medicine physician. We suggest using the ISBAR format to expedite the process
• Send your patient to the RMH Emergency with a letter confirming the referral as part of the Direct Referral Service
• Your patient will be quickly reviewed in Emergency for medical stability and then will be seen by our acute medicine physician