Clinical Prioritisation Criteria

Our requirements are aligned with the state-wide Clinical Prioritisation Criteria (CPC) for specialist outpatient services and allied health outpatient services.

You can find referral criteria and contact information on Far North Queensland (FNQ) HealthPathways.

GP referrals

Send all referrals to the Torres and Cape Central Referral Hub:

Give as much information as you can from the lists below. This is so we can make an accurate assessment. Having all this information helps us assess the urgency of the referral and set up an appropriate appointment time. Otherwise, we may not be able to assess the urgency correctly. We may also ask for more information or decline it.

If your referral is declined, recheck the criteria.

Demographic details

  • Full name (including aliases)
  • Date of birth
  • Residential and postal address
  • Telephone contact numbers: home, mobile and alternative
  • Medicare number (if eligible)
  • Name of the parent or caregiver (if appropriate)
  • Preferred language and interpreter requirements
  • Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Referring practitioner details

  • Full name
  • Full address
  • Contact details: phone, fax, email
  • Provider number
  • Date of referral
  • Signature

Relevant clinical information about the condition

  • Presenting symptoms
  • Physical findings
  • Details of previous treatment (including systemic and topical medications prescribed) including the course and outcome of the treatment
  • Body mass index (BMI)
  • Details of any associated medical conditions which may affect the condition or its treatment (such as diabetes), noting these must be stable and controlled prior to referral
  • Current medications and dosages
  • Drug allergies
  • Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use

Reason for request

  • To establish a diagnosis
  • For treatment or intervention
  • For advice and management
  • For specialist to take over management
  • Reassurance for GP/second opinion
  • For a specified test/investigation the GP can’t order, or the patient can’t afford or access
  • Reassurance for the patient/family
  • For other reasons (such as rapidly accelerating disease progression)
  • Clinical judgement indicates a referral for specialist review is necessary

Clinical modifiers

  • Impact on employment
  • Impact on education
  • Impact on home
  • Impact on activities of daily living
  • Impact on ability to care for others
  • Impact on personal frailty or safety
  • Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Other relevant information

  • Willingness to have surgery (where surgery is a likely intervention)
  • Choice to be treated as a public or private patient
  • Compensable status (for example DVA, WorkCover, Motor Vehicle Insurance etc.)

Additional requirements

Specialists may need additional information to help with assessment, diagnosis and treatment. If this is the case, we'll tell you in writing and give you details of the additional information we need.

What happens when we get your referral

We assess referrals using the Clinical Prioritisation Criteria (CPC).

Once we've assessed the referral, we will add the patient to the waitlist. We'll contact them about their appointment.

We're unable to accept a referral that doesn't contain enough information to accurately work out the level of clinical urgency. If your referral needs some more details we will return it to you.

Changes to your patient’s clinical status

Maintain clinical supervision of your patient’s condition before their initial consultation with the specialist.

Please notify the hospital in writing if there are any changes to the patient’s clinical status by:

We'll assess the situation to work out if we need to reclassify the referral.

Shared ongoing management

Specialists at our clinics may ask the lab to send copies of your patient’s pathology tests to you.

Viewing patient information and results

Eligible health practitioners can get access to patient information through the Health Provider Portal (HPP) It is also called the Viewer. It provides consolidated clinical information about each patient who receives treatment or care at a Queensland Health facility.

The information comes from Queensland Health clinical and administrative systems, such as:

  • pathology results
  • radiology results
  • medications
  • allergies and alerts
  • care plans
  • discharge summaries.

Learn more about how to use the HPP.

If you don't have the HPP, and the specialist hasn't contacted you about your patient's appointment, contact the specialist directly.

Last updated: December 2022

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