Our Triage service is usually the first point of contact for people seeking support through a clinical mental health service.
What is the Triage service?
The Triage service is a telephone-based assessment and support service that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is staffed by senior mental health clinicians, a psychiatric registrar and a consultant psychiatrist.
Call Triage on 1300 874 243 to discuss a new referral.
Triage receives over 100,000 calls per year and while we aim to provide a timely response to calls, you may at times experience delays.
Priority line for health professionals
Triage provides accessible and timely responses to meet individual mental health needs. GPs and other mental health service providers have access to a priority telephone line to ensure the most timely response to a call.
Health professionals may request priority access on first contact with Triage.
What to expect when you call
When someone calls Triage, a mental health clinician will answer the call. The clinician will ask the caller a range of questions to gather information and ensure the most appropriate response.
Initial assessment
If you're a health professional calling Triage, we will ask you the following information:
- Who the call is about and some basic demographic details for that person (name, age, residential address or suburb)
- Whether the person the call is about is aware that the health professional is contacting Triage on their behalf
- A brief description of what is happening for the person (presenting problem, risk, concerns or issues)
- Previous history, diagnoses and medications if relevant/known
- Who else might be involved in the care of the person (for example, family or carers, a GP, private psychiatrist or private psychologist)
- Any other issues the person may be experiencing (such as safety concerns, other health issues, drug and alcohol issues)
This information contributes to the initial assessment and helps to determine the urgency of the response and type of response required from mental health or other services.
If the situation is deemed an emergency or very serious, we may transfer the call to 000.
Further assessment
The triage process identifies whether the person needs further assessment by the specialist mental health service or other services. If so, Triage will make an appropriate referral.
Support options
If specialist mental health services are not the most appropriate option, we may provide advice or information about other appropriate services to refer the person to, such as a:
- Private psychiatrist or other private mental health practitioner
- Drug and alcohol service
- Gamblers help service
- Medical specialist