The Victorian public hospital or health service system provides health care and professional expertise that is unavailable in the primary and community health area. This includes specialist care services which provide millions of appointments to Victorians each year.
Specialist care (also known as specialist clinics or outpatients) refers to planned, non-admitted health care at public health services. It includes consultations for time-limited assessment and advice, ongoing treatment for complex conditions, and pre- and post-surgery care, delivered by medical, surgical, nursing and allied health professionals. It may include mental health services provided in outpatient settings but excludes community-based mental health services.
Equitable, improved and timely access to specialist care for people who need it is essential to enable Victorians to receive early advice on their treatment options.
Managing access policy to non-admitted specialist services
The Managing referrals to non-admitted specialist services in Victorian public health services policy authorises Victorian public health services to develop relevant local policies, protocols and procedures to manage referrals to the range of non-admitted specialist services including Health Independence Program (HIP) services.
The policy has five objectives:
- To state a patient-centred approach is required when decisions are made about what services are provided, when they are available, how they are accessed and that care should be designed around the patient’s needs, not funding streams
- Identify the roles and responsibilities of the department, health services, referring clinicians and patients
- Describe the department’s expectations about equity of access to non-admitted specialist services for Victorians as outlined in the ‘purpose’
- Promote equitable access to appropriate services so that patients are treated in turn, based on their clinical need, related psychosocial factors and any disparities in access to health care
- Support Victorian public health services to develop and implement local guidelines, protocols and procedures, including collaborative and shared service delivery models between health services and improved integration with primary care.
Referral requests should include the minimum mandatory referral information for the request to be accepted, directed to the most appropriate service and clinically prioritised, see Specialist services minimum referral information.
Communication is central to patients understanding specialist appointments and what happens next. The Specialist clinics communication toolkit provides practical resources, including clear templates and translated information sheets, to support consistent, easy to understand communication across Victorian public health services.
Statewide referral criteria
The department has published and continues to develop statewide referral criteria for clinicians to assist GPs and clinicians in referring patients to non-admitted specialist services. These referral criteria have been developed to improve access to these services in public hospitals by improving the quality and appropriateness of referrals.
The statewide referral criteria ensure that:
- Patient referrals are assessed against the same criteria in all Victorian public hospital
- Referral and communication processes between referring clinicians and non-admitted specialist services are improved
- Referring clinicians know when a referral to a public non-admitted specialist service is required and the information that should be included in the referral
- Non-admitted specialist services have the right information on the referral documentation to assess and accept the referral.
Specialist assessment services - Health Independence Program
The Health Independence Program (HIP) incorporates specialist clinics for continence, cognition, falls, movement, chronic pain, chronic wound, poliomyelitis (polio) and young people with complex medical needs, as well as specialist assessment services for residential aged care clients and clients with chronic and complex needs.
Osteoarthritis Hip and Knee Service
The Osteoarthritis Hip and Knee Service coordinates the management and treatment of hip or knee osteoarthritis for Victorians.
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