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.

  • nil

For clinical advice, please telephone the relevant specialty service.

Central Adelaide Local Health Network

Category 1 - appointment clinically indicated within 30 days

  • craniofacial trauma

Category 2 — appointment clinically indicated within 90 days

  • craniofacial microsomia
  • craniomaxillofacial deformity
  • dentofacial deformity
  • growth disturbances
  • maxillary and mandibular growth disorders with established craniomaxillofacial diagnosis
  • syndromic craniosynostosis
  • Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) and related conditions

Category 3 — appointment clinically indicated within 365 days

  • nil

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.

  • craniofacial disorder symptoms including:
    • difficulty with chewing or swallowing
    • symptoms have persisted for more than 12 months
    • documented significant weight loss or malnutrition secondary to facial skeletal deformity
  • dentofacial deformity symptoms including:
    • severe class II malocclusion with an overjet of greater than 9mm
    • severe class III malocclusion with a negative overjet of greater than 3.5mm
    • anterior open bite greater than 4mm
    • documented speech impairment that is the result of a poor bite or jaw positioning following assessment and confirmation by speech pathologist
  • obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) diagnosis confirmed by respiratory/sleep physician who have failed the following:
    • trial of continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP)
    • less invasive surgical procedures
  • OSA diagnosis confirmed by respiratory/sleep physician, with skeletal anomalies associated with narrowed upper airways
  • other health care workers or allied health reports

Clinical management advice

Orthognathic surgery (OGS), or corrective jaw surgery is available to patients treated by Cleft & Craniofacial SA adult services provided at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH).

If the patient requires urgent attention and/or fulfils category 1 triage criteria, please contact the on-call registrar to discuss and ensure your referral has been received.

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.