We are a specialist psychiatry service that provides clinical psychiatry consultation and support to the acute medical wards, the surgical wards and the intensive care unit of the RMH.
Key points
- We aim to support consumers/patients with their mental health and wellbeing while admitted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) for physical health treatment
- We provide specialised services to staff from the different medical and surgical units of the hospital
- Referrals need to be made through the RMH medical staff
What we do
The Consultation Liaison (CL) service is staffed by consultant psychiatrists, psychiatry registrars, senior nursing staff and a psychologist. Our CL clinicians provide comprehensive specialist mental health assessments, provision of a diagnostic formulation, short-term in-hospital care and advice about treatment.
The team will see people of any age who are in a mental health crisis, if they have a pre-existing mental illness or if there are other concerns or questions about their mental health.
Our clinicians also provide ongoing education for the RMH staff in identifying, assessing and managing people who are experiencing issues with their mental health and advice about mental health follow-up when people are discharged from hospital.
Who can use our service
This service is available for people experiencing mental health issues or psychological distress in the medical or surgical wards at the RMH.
Referrals are made to our service by medical staff when a person is a patient in hospital and when the treating team believes that they would benefit from mental health assessment and support.
Referrals
Internal referral only
Referrals can only be accepted from a person's treating team at the RMH.
HealthPathways Melbourne provides guidance on best practice assessment and management of common medical conditions, including when and where to refer patients.
Parkville Connect is a secure web-based portal providing GPs, specialists and other health professionals with information in the Parkville electronic medical record (EMR).