Referrals

Referral process

Please assist us to triage referrals by providing as much clinical information as possible, including any other information you may think is important to provide holistic care.

We do not have a specific referral template.  We are happy to accept referrals by doctors’ letters, Medical Director or Best Practice.

You are welcome to directly refer to any of our consultants, please include enough information to meet Medicare-funding eligibility requirements, as follows:

• A named clinician/head of service
• The date of referral
• A current provider number or the address of your practice
• Your signature.

If you would like further assistance with your referral, i.e. name of an Oncologist/Haematologist in a specific area, please phone us.

Please fax referrals

Timely referrals to cancer services improve cancer patient outcomes.  If you are unsure which clinic to fax the referral to, just send it to your closest clinic.

Referring a Current Inpatient or Suspected Oncology Emergency

Oncological emergencies include the following conditions:

• Febrile Neutropenia
• Superior Vena Cava Obstruction
• Spinal Cord Compression
• Tumour Lysis Syndrome
• Malignant Hypercalcaemia
• Any condition that poses a risk of imminent death or permanent disability that has the potential to be reversed by immediate oncological treatment including rapidly growing tumours.

Launceston General Hospital

Call Switch: 6777 6777

Business Hours: Ask for the Registrar for Haematology, Medical Oncology or Radiation Oncology as required.

After Hours: Ask for the Consultant/Registrar on-call for Haematology, Medical Oncology or Radiation Oncology as required.

Mersey Community Hospital

Call Switch: 6478 5500

All Hours: Ask to be put through to the on-call Consultant for Haematology, Medical Oncology or Radiation Oncology as required.

North West Regional Hospital

Call Switch: 6493 6000

All Hours: Ask to be put through to the on-call Consultant for Haematology, Medical Oncology or Radiation Oncology as required.

Referral Periods

As per standard Medicare guidelines.

Referral periods from a GP to a specialist

A referral from a general practitioner (GP) to a specialist lasts 12 months, unless noted otherwise.  The referral starts from the date the specialist first attends the patient, not the date issued.

If a patient needs continuing care, GPs can write a referral beyond 12 months or for an indefinite period.

If a patient on an indefinite referral has a new or unrelated condition, the GP must issue a new referral for that condition.

Referral periods from a specialist to another specialist

Referrals from specialists and consultant physicians are valid for 3 months unless the patient is an admitted patient.

Referrals for admitted patients are valid for 3 months or the duration of admission, whichever is longer.

Referrals to Cancer Care Coordinators for General Practitioners and Medical Specialists

Doctors or other health care professionals can directly contact a Cancer Care Coordinator.

Patients and family members who may require information and support from a Cancer Care Coordinator include:

• Patients with a new diagnosis of cancer.
• Patients who are currently undergoing cancer treatment.
• Patients who have recently received cancer treatment at one of our centres.

The NCS also has dedicated Cancer Care Coordinators for Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer, early referral around the time of diagnosis is recommended for these patients.

Optimal Cancer Care Pathways for patients Diagnosis, Treatment and Beyond - General Practitioner Quick Reference Guides

Cancer Australia has developed quick reference guides by tumour type for GP’s to help work up potential cancer patients and link them with specialist services. Each pathway identifies recommended care at each stage of the patient’s journey.

The quick reference guides are available via: The Cancer Council Australia website.  AMA members can access the pathways via the AMA GP Desktop Toolkit on the doctorportal website once signed in. GPs can also import the GP quick reference guides and consumer version PDFs into their GP software (Best Practice or Medical Director). The pathways are also integrated into the Primary Health Networks HealthPathways Portal.

GP's can refer newly diagnosed cancer patients to our optimal cancer pathways page or print and provide the ‘what to expect’ consumer guides for patients.

Oncology Resources for General Practitioners

We encourage patients to stay in contact with their GP’s for ongoing support, management of other health conditions and cancer screening programs as required. There are a range of educational resources available for GP’s in cancer screening, supportive and survivorship cancer care.

eviQ (New South Wales Cancer Institute) have produced clinical factsheets regarding cancer treatment for GP's, these include:

• Patients receiving oral chemotherapy.
• Common radiation therapy side effects.
• Common chemotherapy side effects.
• Patients receiving anticancer immunotherapy.
• Patients receiving molecular targeted anticancer therapy.

Online Cancer Survivorship course for Primary Care Practitioners produced by the University of Melbourne and Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre have an 8 minutes video for GP’s and Oncologists about the role of GP’s in follow up cancer care