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

Regardless of age, for urgent referrals and/or clinical advice related to cancer predisposition, please telephone the Adults Genetics Unit (including familial cancer) and ask to speak to the on-call geneticist and or duty genetic counsellor.

Adults Genetics Unit

Adult Genetics Unit (including familial cancer) within Central Adelaide Local Health Network:

Inclusions

  • any solid malignancy diagnosed under age 18 years
  • a benign tumour diagnosed under age 18 years with known association with genetic cancer/tumour predisposition including:
    • adrenal adenoma
    • broad ligament cystadenoma
    • cervical-thyroid teratoma
    • cystic nephroma
    • endolymphatic sac tumours of the inner ear
    • epididymal cystadenoma
    • infantile myofibromatosis
    • jaw keratocyst(s)
    • Lisch nodules (hamartomas of the iris)
    • multinodular goitre requiring surgery
    • nasal chondromesenchymal hamartoma
    • neurofibroma (cutaneous or plexiform)
    • parathyroid tumour or hyperplasia
    • 2 or more pilomatrixoma
    • retinoma
    • schwannoma
  • hamartomatous polyps
  • adenomatous polyps
    • ten or more (cumulative) adenomatous colorectal polyps under age 18 years
    • one or more adenomatous polyp/s under age 12
    • adenomatous polyps and one or more of the following:
      • intra-abdominal or abdominal wall desmoid type fibromatosis
      • hepatoblastoma
      • congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE) with atypical features including bilateral, multifocal and in multiple quadrants, pisiform shape, irregular borders
      • somatic KRAS G12C (p.Gly12Cys) pathogenic variant detected in an adenomatous colorectal polyp
  • other polyps
    • numerous gastric fundic gland polyps in the absence of treatment with a proton pump inhibitor

Exclusions

Triage categories

Category 1 (appointment clinically indicated within 30 days)

  • distant metastatic disease with a short predicted life expectancy, contact will usually be made within 7 days
  • results of genetic testing, if offered, will influence local or systemic treatment decisions
  • personal and or family history of cancer with high suspicion of a cancer predisposition and the patient and or their partner is pregnant and review/genetic testing will impact investigation and management in pregnancy. Contact will generally be made within 7 days, usually 2 to 3 days

Category 2 (appointment clinically indicated within 90 days)

  • personal and/or any family history of a genetic cancer predisposition, where a specific causative gene variant has been identified on a genetic test
  • personal history of cancer and is currently on, or about to go onto a palliative care pathway, contact will usually be made within 7 days)
  • referral recommended after review of a relative
  • tumour testing has identified a potential germline mutation in a genetic cancer predisposition gene

Category 3 (appointment clinically indicated within 365 days)

  • all other referrals meeting inclusion criteria for the relevant cancer/tumour

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.

  • as much detail as possible about the patient’s personal history of disease including the following:
    • clear indication of clinical need for urgency. Has the referral been prompted by a pregnancy or imminently planned pregnancy? Will a genetic test result inform local or systemic treatment decisions?
    • planned time frame of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surger to indicate when genetic test results are required, if offered
    • cancer/tumour diagnosis, age at diagnosis and other clinical features
    • details of prognosis in patients with metastatic disease
    • details and results of genetic testing if performed including a copy of the genetic test result
    • relevant histopathology reports and/or imaging results
  • presence or absence of relevant family history with names of affected relatives

Additional information to assist triage categorisation

  • known details of relevant family history (first and second-degree blood relatives) including:
    • date of birth
    • previous names/surnames
    • clinical diagnosis/features and age at diagnosis
    • relation to patient including whether maternal or paternal
  • if the family is known to a Clinical Genetics service in South Australia, if possible, please provide the genetics file number and names of relative/s seen
  • if the family are known to another genetic service, the name of the service, and family reference number if available

Clinical management advice

The Adult Genetics Unit (AGU) provides services through a network of clinics at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre, the Lyell McEwin Hospital, Women’s and Children’s Hospital and telehealth. All referrals should be addressed to the AGU.

The offer of an appointment by clinical genetics does not guarantee that a publicly funded genetic test will be offered.

If the patient has a limited life expectancy, arrange collection of 2 x 4ml of blood in ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA); the request form should ask for “deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) storage” and include a brief note giving the personal and family history. Send to Molecular Pathology, SA Pathology at Frome Road, Adelaide, 5000.

Patients may be asked to provide detailed written family information using electronic correspondence, or paper-based correspondence. This may be followed by a telephone consultation with a genetic counsellor or allied health assistant prior to the appointment.

Consent forms may be provided for relatives allowing permission to access information about their health.

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.

Adolescents transitioning from paediatric to adult specialist services require a formal handover from paediatric specialist clinician to adult specialist clinician as well as a formal referral from the referring specialist to ensure initial transfer of care is completed.

The General Practitioners role in this process is to provide support to patients as part of holistic care. All ongoing referrals to specialists can subsequently be provided by the General Practitioner once the transfer of care has occurred.