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.

  • infected eczema with sepsis

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

Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

Inclusions

  • referral from dermatologist
  • atopic eczema with suspected allergic cause for instance, food or environmental allergens
  • atopic eczema with associated food allergy or suspected immunodeficiency

Exclusions

  • patients under 17 years old
  • patients being treated for same condition at other hospital
  • contact dermatitis, refer to Dermatology
  • isolated pruritis without rash
  • atopic eczema without trialed medical management

Triage categories

Category 1 (appointment clinically indicated within 30 days)

  • nil

Category 2 (appointment clinically indicated within 90 days)

  • atopic eczema with associated food allergy or suspected immunodeficiency

Category 3 (appointment clinically indicated within 365 days)

  • atopic eczema with suspected allergic cause, for instance food or environmental allergens

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.

  • response to standard therapy including frequent emollients and topical corticosteroids, list names of trialled/current topical medications, systemic medications
  • medical history including any other allergies such as allergic rhinitis, asthma and or suspected or confirmed food allergies or immunodeficiency
  • duration and severity of symptoms

Additional information to assist triage categorisation

  • effects on day-to-day living
  • details of previous dermatology consultations
  • immunoglobulin E (IgE) for food/environmental allergens
  • full blood count (FBC)
  • immunoglobulins for immunodeficiency
  • total IgE

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.