Gastroenterology Procedure Requests
Information for General Practitioners
Central Waitlist for Open Access Endoscopy / Ambulatory Surgery Initiative
To promote equity of access for all patients within the region, the South Metropolitan Health Service operates a central waitlist for open access endoscopy. GPs may refer patients to Endoscopists directly or to Fremantle Hospital, Armadale Hospital or Rockingham/Kwinana District Hospital. All requests will be prioritised by Consultant Endoscopists at the hospital in which the request is received. The prioritised forms will then be sent to Fremantle Hospital where the Regional Waitlist will be administered. Where at all possible a nominated procedure will be performed at the public hospital within the patient’s postcode catchment.
The Regional Waitlist staff will notify both the patient and GP of the proposed procedure date.
Staff from the hospital nominated to undertake the procedure will contact all patients prior to the date of their procedure to ensure they are aware of the pre-operative requirements, the nature of the procedure and to answer any questions the patient may have. If you have referred a patient directly to an Endoscopist and you feel the approximate time given by the Regional Waitlist is inappropriate, it would be appreciated if you would make contact with the Consultant Endoscopist to whom you referred the patient.
For emergency procedures General Practitioners are asked to continue to make direct contact with their preferred Endoscopist.
Some gastroenterology procedures can be done under the Ambulatory Surgery Initiative (ASI). The ASI is for low risk patients who would like the opportunity to have their minor procedure done earlier in a non-teaching hospital. Low risk patients are patients that are under 120Kg and do not have multiple co-morbidities. Essentially, the ASI allows doctors to do additional private work in public hospitals. Patients are bulk billed and therefore incur no out-of-pocket expenses for the procedure. Under the ASI a referral to a named consultant is required.
Fremantle/Kaleeya specific referral form with named Consultants [32.5 kb pdf]
GP Handbook ~ Gastroenterology [48 kb pdf]
Further information on the ASI
Page last updated / reviewed:
22 September, 2008
Page Owner: GP Liaison Program Coordinator |
