Referral Access Criteria

Referral Access Criteria (RAC) are clinical decision support tools that will standardise the referral process for public outpatient services in Western Australia (WA).

RAC will be used by referring practitioners when referring into the WA public outpatient system and the Central Referral Service to assess and allocate referrals to the appropriate hospital.

Referrals will only be accepted if all ‘mandatory referral information’ is included with the referral.

RAC have been developed to:

• improve access for patients who require specialist review in public metropolitan outpatient clinics
• improve communication between referrers and specialist clinics
• improve consistency in referral acceptance and triaging practices
• ensure that patients who are suitable to be managed in primary care do not wait unnecessarily on hospital outpatient waitlists
• improve referral quality.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Acute and chronic otitis externa – Adult

Acute hearing loss – Adult

C

Chronic hearing loss – Adult

Chronic middle ear disease – Adult

Cognitive dementia and memory – Adult

D

Dizziness / vertigo – Adult

Dysphonia / hoarseness – Paediatric

E

Ear drum perforation – Adult

Ear wax – Adult

Ear wax – Paediatric

ENT – Adult

ENT – Paediatric

Epilepsy and seizures – Adult

Epistaxis – Adult

Epistaxis (recurrent) – Paediatric

F

Facial nerve palsy / Bell's palsy – Adult

H

Haematuria / Bladder lesion – Adult

Head and neck mass (ENT) – Adult

Headache or migraine – Adult

Hearing loss – Paediatric

L

Lower urinary tract symptoms – Adult (female)

Lower urinary tract symptoms – Adult (male)

M

Movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease and dystonia – Adult

N

Nasal fracture – Adult

Nasal fracture (acute) – Paediatric

Neck mass – Paediatric

Neurology referral criteria – Adult

O

Obstructive sleep apnoea – Adult

Oral and pharyngeal lesions – Adult

Otitis externa – Paediatric

Otitis media with effusion (OME) or Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media (CSOM) – Paediatric

P

Penile, scrotal and testicular abnormalities – Adult

Peripheral neuropathy – Adult

Progressive loss of neurological function – Adult

Prostate cancer (suspected/confirmed) – Adult

R

Recurrent acute otitis media with or without perforation – Paediatric

Recurrent, uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) – Adult

Renal mass – Adult

Rhinosinusitis – Adult

Rhinosinusitis – Paediatric

S

Salivary tumour, disorder or sialolithiasis (salivary stones) – Adult

Sleep disordered breathing / Obstructive sleep apnoea – Paediatric

Stridor – Paediatric

Stroke / transient ischaemic attack (TIA) – Adult

T

Thyroid mass – Adult

Tinnitus – Adult

Tonsillitis (recurrent) or tonsillar enlargement – Adult

Tonsillitis (recurrent) – Paediatric

U

Upper Aerodigestive Tract Problems including Dysphagia, Dysphonia and Globus – Adult

Urinary incontinence – Adult (female)

Urinary incontinence – Adult (male) - refer to Lower urinary tract symptoms (Male)

Urinary tract calculi – Adult

Urology – Adult

V

Vasectomy Services - Community HealthPathways Western Australia (external site)