For GPs - Refer your patient

HealthPathways Central Queensland

You can find referral criteria and contact information on the HealthPathways Central Queensland website.

HealthPathways Central Queensland is a hospital referral guideline that includes the Queensland Government Clinical Prioritisation Criteria. It provides clinical assessment, management and referral advice for health providers. Hospital clinicians and general practice teams developed the pathways together.

GPs are encouraged to use HealthPathways at the point of care. Other health professionals in the Central Queensland region can also use it. This includes hospital specialists, nurses, allied health and other health professionals.

Find assessment and management information on a range of conditions. Access to HealthPathways is free for clinicians in Central Queensland.

How to access HealthPathways Central Queensland

If you'd like access to HealthPathways Central Queensland, please fill in the access request form.

Outpatient waiting times

Waiting times vary. You can get an idea of waiting times for outpatient appointments on the Queensland Health performance website. Please select the Seen tab to see the last quarter's and average number of days waiting by specialty.

After an outpatient appointment the hospital may also place a patient on an elective surgery waiting list.

Referrals

How to submit a referral

You can send referrals electronically using GP Smart Referrals or Medical Objects, these are the preferred options. You can also send them by fax.

Smart referrals

Smart Referrals includes the following key components:

• GP Smart Referrals (GPSR) - provides seamless and integrated capability allowing you to create and submit electronic referrals from existing practice software
• Referrals Service Directory (RSD) - provides details of public specialist services and the necessary clinical business requirements to support referral lodgement
• Referral Lodgement and Tracking (RLaT) - provides technical capability to facilitate digital lodgement and tracking referrals across the state
• Smart Referrals Workflow - provides digital capability to facilitate the seamless receipt, registration and triage of specialist outpatient referrals.

When you send a referral using Smart Referrals, you’ll be able to see the waiting times at the point of referral. You'll also be able to see the status, for example accepted, declined etc.

Learn more and get further resources about Smart Referrals on the Queensland Health website.

If you have any issues submitting a referral or you need IT support, call the Smart Referral Hotline on 1300 478 439.

How to update or upgrade a referral

If your patient’s condition or circumstances have changed you may need to update or upgrade their referral. You can do this by re-submitting the referral with an explanation of the changes.

For urgent upgrade requests it's essential that you check the referral criteria on HealthPathways before re-submitting. This will help determine what information you need for an upgrade request.

Keep your information up to date

Update your details within the Queensland Health STS (Secure Transfer Service) address book.
Email: STS_External-Alerts@health.qld.gov.au.