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 and speak to the on-call geneticist and or duty genetic counsellor for the service required.

Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

Exclusions

Confirmed or suspected clinical diagnosis of Huntington disease refer to Movement Disorders (including Parkinson’s Disease and Tremor) - Adult Neurology CPC.

Triage categories

Category 1 — appointment clinically indicated within 30 days

  • individual with known to have, or is at risk of inheriting, Huntington disease and they or their partner is pregnant. Patients will generally be seen within 7 days, usually 2 to 3 days.
  • individual with suspected Huntington disease AND is currently on or about to go on a palliative care pathway. Contact will be made within 7 days. 

Category 2 — appointment clinically indicated within 90 days

  • individual with a family history of Huntington disease a considering predictive genetic testing

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.

  • relevant family history with names of affected relatives and the state/country where genetic testing was completed

Additional information to assist triage categorisation

  • identify if the family is known to clinical Genetics or the Huntington Disease Service in South Australia. Where possible, provide the genetics file number and names of relative/s seen.
  • if the family are known to another genetic service, provide the location/name, and family reference number if available

Clinical management advice

Individuals or a couple at risk of having an affected pregnancy may be referred to Paediatric Reproductive Genetics Unit (PRGU) for reproductive counselling.

The South Australian Huntington’s Disease Service is a statewide service for people with Huntington Disease and their families. If there are any queries regarding the appropriateness of a referral, you can contact the Huntington’s disease Service at the Repat Health Precinct

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.