Specialty: Cardiology
Age group: Adult
Direct to an emergency department for:
- Suspected pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection
- Suspected acute coronary syndrome with any of the following:
- severe or ongoing chest pain
- chest pain lasting 10 minutes or more
- chest pain that is new at rest, or with minimal activity
- chest pain with any of the following:
- severe dyspnoea
- syncope or pre-syncope
- respiratory rate greater than 30 breaths per minute
- tachycardia greater than 120 beats per minute
- systolic blood pressure lower than 90 mmHg
- heart failure or suspected pulmonary oedema
- ST segment elevation or depression
- complete heart block
- new left bundle branch block.
Criteria for referral to public hospital specialist clinic services
- New or recurrent cardiac chest pain without any current acute concerning features.
Information to be included in the referral
Information that must be provided
- Description of relevant signs or symptoms
- Relevant medical history and comorbidities
- Relevant electrocardiogram (ECG) tracings
- Current and complete medication history (including non-prescription medicines, herbs and supplements and recreational or injectable drugs).
Provide if available
- Treatments previously tried, duration of trial and effect
- Any family history of sudden cardiac death or cardiac disease
- History of smoking and alcohol intake
- Cardiovascular disease risk assessment
- Functional status assessment
- Any relevant x-ray, imaging or investigation results (e.g. cardiac imaging, stress test, myocardial perfusion scan, troponin test)
- Liver function tests
- Full blood examination results
- Fasting lipid profile results
- If diabetic current and previous HbA1c results
- If the person identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- If symptoms are thought to be linked to probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection or Long COVID.
Additional comments
The Summary and referral information lists the information that should be included in a referral request.
The referral should include if this is a request for a second opinion.
Where appropriate and available the referral may be directed to an alternative specialist clinic or service.
Referral to a public hospital is not appropriate for
Not applicable.
Reviewed 27 May 2025