Tasmanian eReferral System

Maintenance Window Details:

Duration: Approximately 3 hours

Upcoming Updates:
Please note that next month's updates will occur on Tuesday, 17th December 2024.

From the Tasmanian Department of Health:

Tasmania has a set of defined procedures not routinely funded in Tasmanian public hospitals. However, some procedures can occur in exceptional circumstances, see here: Planned Surgery Access Policy.

If a patient is referred to a public hospital for a procedure listed in this policy and surgery is declined, an appeal can be requested by the patient via their General Practitioner (GP). The ‘Request for review of surgical decision’ form is available in Healthlink eReferral Smartforms. For more information about eReferral, email providersupport@primaryhealthtas.com.au

For GPs without access to eReferral, the reason for appeal and the patient’s clinical history can be faxed to the outpatient fax of the public hospital to which the patient was referred, and will be forwarded to the Clinical Director of Surgery.

Current process

If a patient is referred to a public hospital for a procedure that is not routinely performed and is denied approval, an appeal can be requested by the GP for their patient using the “GP Appeals” Form. Until recently, the appeal was made through a link to an online form, which is being removed (see link at the bottom of this page: Waitlists and waiting times | Tasmanian Department of Health). The reason for this change is because the IT server that contains the form, and distributes it securely to recipients, is being decommissioned.

New Process

The new process for GP appeals is through HealthLink (eReferral platform):

1. The GP selects ‘Request for review of surgical decision’ in HealthLink and completes form (live as of Wednesday 25th September).
2. The eReferral is allocated to the relevant regional Clinical Director of Surgery for review.
3. Communication with the GP will be managed through the Referral Management System by the Clinical Director of Surgery.

The Tasmanian Department of Health is expanding the list of services available for referral via HealthLink Smart Forms from Wednesday 25 September 2024.

Included in this release are three new referable services:

• Haematology (Benign and Malignant) at the Mersey Community Hospital;
• Heart Failure Advice Only Request at the Royal Hobart Hospital; and
• Request for review of Surgical decision at all acute facilities.

A full, updated service list is available in the panel to the right.

About the Heart Failure Advice Only Request

As part of Tasmania’s Digital Health Transformation Program 2022-2032, the Royal Hobart Hospital is trialing a new feature within the HealthLink Smart Form system.

What is it?

A new category ‘Heart Failure Advice Only Request’ will appear under Cardiology Services.

This feature will allow GPs in the south of the state to seek written advice on appropriate, non-urgent patients with heart failure.

For example, you may wish to seek:

• advice regarding diagnosis and/or clarification regarding a heart failure patient’s investigation results,
• advice on a heart failure treatment plan and/or the ongoing management of a patient with heart failure,
• guidance on when to refer a patient with heart failure or determining the most suitable alternative care pathway.

How will it work?

Your request for heart failure advice must:

• be submitted via the HealthLink system,
• contain sufficient clinical information as outlined in the Heart Failure Statewide Referral Criteria for a written response to be provided,
• include the question you would like answered.

What can you expect?

A written response via HealthLink to your Best Practice inbox/Medical Director Holding file within 2-3 business days.

If the Cardiologist determines that they would like to see the patient in the outpatient clinic – the referral will be forwarded to appointment scheduling, and you will be notified of this outcome.

Why is this being trialed?

Through this innovative feature you will be able to obtain the specialist advice you need to continue managing your heart failure patients in the community.

For all urgent enquiries please continue to call the on-call Cardiologist or Registrar via RHH switch 6166 8308.

Minor Service List Updates

There have also been some minor service list structural changes for usability improvements, including the creation of a Gastroenterology Services selection and ability to direct a referral directly to:

• Gastroenterology (General/Clinics)
• Gastroenterology (Endoscopy)
• Hepatology

Similarly, a Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Services selection, which gives you the ability to direct a referral to:

• Pulmonary Rehabilitation
• Respiratory Medicine
• Sleep Medicine

A number of other services will also now be grouped together under relevant headings, such as Ambulatory Care Centre Services, Ophthalmology Services, Paediatric Services, Neurosurgery Services (Statewide), Neurology Services, Gynaecology Services, Immunology and Allergy Services, and Cardiology Services.

As always, if you have any questions or require training to use HealthLink, please contact Primary Health Tasmania Provider Support at providersupport@primaryhealthtas.com.au.

Following the implementation of the eReferrals system, the Outpatient Transformation Program 2022-2026 (Tasmanian Department of Health) has set the following service level targets for processing specialist outpatient eReferrals:

• Referral Registration/Allocation: Our administrators aim to register the referral, verify patient details and assign it for pre-screening / triage within 1 business day.
• Triage: A triaging clinician will aim to accept, decline, or request more information from the referrer within 5 business days.
• Booking / Processing: Clinics will aim to waitlist/book, notify of outcome, and load the referral to the patient’s medical record within:
  • Non-urgent referrals: 10 business days of acceptance.
  • Category 1 or referrals otherwise deemed urgent: 1 business day of acceptance.
• Additional Information Requests: For urgent referrals, the requested information should be provided by the referrer within 4 business days; for non-urgent, within 10 business days.

These targets provide transparency for you and your patients regarding referral outcomes. While clinics aim to meet these targets, delays do occur in complex cases or other extenuating in-clinic circumstances. To assist us with meeting these targets, you can:

• Use HealthLink Smart Form eReferrals to avoid lengthy administrative delays with paper/fax/emails paper handling.
• Always ensure URGENT flags are used in clinically appropriate circumstances.
• Ensure your practice has processes in place to review all eReferral related notifications and respond to all request for information notifications within timeframes.

The preferred method for referral to the northwest antenatal service is via the HealthLink SmartForm. Select the ‘Tasmanian Health Service’ and ‘Antenatal’ service from the menu within HealthLink. There will be changes to the antenatal SmartForm mid-2024 to accommodate service specific information, similar to the information in the paper-based form.

The Tasmanian Health Service and Primary Health Tasmania eReferral teams are pleased to host two GP information sessions on the next stage of eReferral rollout.

These online sessions for GPs will provide:

• An update on the eReferral rollout to date
• An update on the Outpatient Transformation Program will include the achievements from year one, scope and progress for year two
• Information on introduction of Statewide Referral Criteria (SRC)

Both sessions will provide the same update. In addition:

• Session 1 will feature Dr Nathan Dwyer speaking about SRC and Cardiology.
• Session 2 will feature Dr Chris Middleton speaking about SRC and Gastroenterology.

Session 2 was recorded and can be watched below:

Carolynne Partridge (Nurse Unit Manager – Specialist Outpatient Clinics, Launceston General Hospital)

Launceston General Hospital Specialist Outpatient Clinics started using eReferrals three months ago. Over this period our clerical team has seen referrals received much faster than other methods. Sending a HealthLink SmartForm Referral means our administrators receive the referrals instantly and don’t have to wait for mail delivery, scroll through e-mails, or collect paper off the fax machine to manually scan / upload. This means referrals are sent to the clinicians much faster. We strongly encourage GPs to use the new HealthLink eReferral SmartForm solution in their practice.

Allison Coull (Nurse Unit Manager - Ambulatory Care - Northwest Regional Hospital)

We know that the recent introduction of eReferrals in the Northwest has been a change to existing GP referral methods, our team appreciates practices supporting this new process. The additional efforts involved in processing referrals still received via paper, emails and fax really slow down our processes. We notice that the eReferrals get to the correct clinic triaging location much faster. It also allows our doctors and nursing staff an easier communication channel with GP’s should extra information be required for a referral. As such, we urge any GPs who aren’t yet using Health Link SmartForms referrals to come onboard to help with efficiencies in our outpatient clinics.

Sharon Kirkland (Nurse Unit Manager - Specialist Clinics/Outpatients Mersey Community Hospital)

The staff in Outpatients at Mersey Community Hospital are excited to have the new centralised eReferral system. Receiving the new HealthLink Smart Form eReferrals is a more efficient process. The new referral system allows for referrals to be processed and triaged quicker. This results in your patients being seen in a more timely manner. The old system of receiving referrals by fax or email is a slow and inefficient process. This is demanding on the administrative team’s time. Time to triage is delayed, resulting in delays in patients being seen in clinic. My team would love to see every Tasmanian GP using the new referral system to assist our outpatient health services and to the benefit of our patients.

John Stanfield, Manager Outpatient Appointments and Theatre Booking Clerks, Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH)

The e-referral system embeds communication and registration efficiency for Outpatients Appointment Schedulers if Health Link Smart Referrals is used. Where the Health Link Smart Forms aren’t used, this means a lot of double handling and phone calls from GPs looking to confirm receipt or progression of referrals. Ideally, we’ll see a higher percentage of GP’s using health link soon… better for us better, for you and better for the patient experience.

Yvonne Echaburu, Nurse Manager - Royal Hobart Hospital Outpatient Clinics

The introduction of the eReferrals system will allow for improved efficiencies around referral registration, waitlisting and appointment allocation while allowing GP’s greater visibility in real-time to the referral outcome. We appreciate that the adoption of the HealthLink eReferral smart form is a change in process for some GPs but this change will ultimately help improve communications between the Specialist Clinics and GP practices, ensuring a better experience for all. The continued use of paper-based referrals received by fax is outdated and a greater risk for patients with the potential for lost or delayed referrals. Moving to an integrated system such the eReferral smart form will minimise those risks and ensure patients are seen in a more timely manner.