Referral to emergency

If any of the following are present or suspected, please refer the patient to the emergency department (via ambulance if necessary) or seek emergent medical advice if in a remote region.

  • acute trauma including:
    • vulva/vaginal lacerations
    • haematoma and/or
    • penetrating injuries

Please contact the on-call registrar to discuss your concerns prior to referral.

For clinical advice, please telephone the relevant specialty service.

Central Adelaide Local Health Network

Northern Adelaide Local Health Network 

  • Lyell McEwin Hospital (08) 8182 9000, during business hours. After 5:00 pm contact either of the CALHN services. 

Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

Exclusions

Triage categories

Category 1 (appointment clinically indicated within 30 days)

  • suspicion of malignancy
  • unexplained vulval lump/ulceration/bleeding
  • post-menopausal women with abnormal vulval lesions
  • immunosuppressed women with vulval lesion/s

Category 2 (appointment clinically indicated within 90 days)

  • vulval cysts in women greater than 40 years of age
  • suspected vulval dysplasia
  • vulval dermatoses, including Lichen Sclerosus
  • vulval warts where:
    • the diagnosis is unclear
    • the patient is immunocompromised
    • there is atypical presentation including pigmented lesions

Category 3 (appointment clinically indicated within 365 days)

  • vulval cysts in women less than 40 years of age
  • vulvar dermatitis
  • vulval lesions with any of the following:
    • treatment is not tolerated
    • unresponsive to first-line treatment
  • vulval warts

Essential referral information

Completion required before first appointment to ensure patients are ready for care. Please indicate in the referral if the patient is unable to access mandatory tests or investigations as they incur a cost or are unavailable locally.

  • past medical/surgical/obstetric/psychosocial history
  • current medications and allergies
  • hormonal contraception use
  • onset, duration and course of presenting symptoms
  • presenting symptoms history, including:
    • pain
    • swelling
    • pruritus
    • dyspareunia
    • localised lesions, pigmented or non-pigmented lesions
    • sexually transmitted infection (STI) or other vaginal infection/s
    • trauma where appropriate
    • medical management to date
  • pelvic examination findings
  • height, weight and body mass index
  • relevant diagnostic/imaging reports including location of company and accession number

Pathology

  • an up-to-date cervical screening test as per the cervical screening guidelines
  • sexually active people, complete a STI screen including:
    • human immunodeficiency virus and syphilis serology
    • chlamydia and gonorrhoea which requires:
      • endocervical swab for culture and
      • endocervical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab or urine sample
      • herpes simplex virus and varicella-zoster virus PCR screen
    • if suspected syphilis – ulcer swab nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT)/polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Vulval ulceration present
  • wound swab microscopy, culture and sensitivity (MCS)
  • PCR screen for herpes simplex virus and varicella-zoster virus
  • exotic travel history including location, date and length of stay
Vulval dermatitis present
  • allergy skin testing results
  • fungal swab/scraping if suspicion of candidiasis

Clinical management advice

Please note Vulval Conditions are managed jointly by gynaecology and dermatology - refer to Vulval Disorders - Gynaecology CPC for further information.

The primary causes of vulval disorders commonly include vulvovaginal candidiasis, dermatological conditions like Lichen Sclerosus and irritant or contact dermatitis. These conditions can often be effectively managed with first-line treatments provided by a general practitioner within the community.

Clinical resources

Consumer resources

Reason for request

  • to establish a diagnosis
  • for treatment or intervention
  • for advice and management
  • for specialist to take over management
  • for a specified test/investigation the General Practitioner cannot order
  • for other reason (e.g. rapidly accelerating disease progression)
  • transfer of care from another tertiary service
  • clinical judgement indicates a referral for specialist review is necessary.

Patient demographic details

  • full name, including aliases
  • date of birth
  • residential and postal address
  • telephone contact number/s – home, mobile and alternative
  • Medicare number, where eligible
  • name of the parent or caregiver, if appropriate
  • preferred language and interpreter requirements
  • identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

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, e.g. DVA, Work Cover, Motor Vehicle Insurance, etc.
  • Relevant social history, including identifying if you feel your patient is from a vulnerable population, under guardianship/out-of-home care arrangements and/or requires a third party to receive correspondence on their behalf.
  • Triage of a specialist outpatient referral is based on clinical decision making to allocate an appropriate urgency categorisation.
  • Where appropriate and where available, the referral may be streamed to an associated public allied health and/or nursing service. Access to some specific services may include initial assessment and management by associated public allied health and/or nursing, which may either facilitate or negate the need to see the public medical specialist.
  • A change in patient circumstance (such as condition deteriorating or pregnancy) may affect the urgency categorisation and should be communicated as soon as possible.
  • All new referrals will be triaged by a consultant and appointment times scheduled according to clinical urgency.