Refer a Patient to a Specialist

Create a referral letter and send it to a specialist securely from the Letter Writer section.

Before you begin

Make sure that the specialist's email address is recorded in the Address Book or to send via HealthLink, the recipients details are recorded in the HealthLink directory.

About this task

Letters emailed to other health providers are not password-protected. To email a registered health provider securely, select Secure Message Delivery (SMD) to send the letter via HealthLink directory.

Procedure

To create and send a patient referral to a specialist:

In a patient's consult, click Letter Writer.

Tip: If you cannot see the Letter Writer, click More and select the Letter Writer section.
From the Search list, enter and search the Specialist Referral letter template.

Tip: Alternatively, if you have already added the Specialist Referral letter template to your favourites, from the Favourites list, select it. For more information about adding to favourites, see Template Favourites.
In the Presenting Problem field, enter the patient's presenting problem details.
If required, in the Address Book field, add a specialist's details:
- Search - search by specialist's name, organisation's name or speciality and select the addressee from the list.
- Near - to search for a specialist type by proximity:
  1. Set Near.
  2. Enter a suburb.
  3. Search for a specialty.
    Select from the specialists listed by proximity.
- Assign to HCP - to assign an HCP for the patient, set Assign to HCP.
To customise the clinical information included, expand Clinical summaries and select the sections you want to include in the specialist referral letter, such as current medications, conditions, immunisations, patient demographics and so on. For more information about other clinical summaries, see Letter Writer.
Click Save and Send. You are redirected to the Send Document panel.
For more information about other actions in the letter writer, see Actions in Letters.
To send a referral letter, in the Send Document panel, set Send to clinician or provider.
Select the required send options:
- Secure Message Delivery - send only to recipients who are recorded in the HealthLink Directory. To add a recipient:
  1. In the To field, click Directory lookup.
  2. In the Directory lookup window, search by the HCP's given name, specialty, location, organisation name or service type.
  3. From the Records found list, select the required recipient or hover your mouse over the required recipient in the Actions column and click Select.
    The selected recipient is automatically added to the To field.
    Note: If a potential recipient is not a HealthLink participant, an Information icon is displayed in the Actions column and you cannot select them.
  4. To send the referral letter to multiple recipients, repeat the steps for each additional recipient.
  5. To add additional addressees in the CC field, repeat the steps if required.
- If emailing the letter, set Email and in the To field start typing the recipient and select them from the list.
  If a recipient's details are not recorded in the address book, to add a new recipient, click Add new address. For more information, see Add New Addresses.
  Note: Email is not secure and documents sent via email to HCPs are not password protected.
In the Message Content section, add details:
1. In the Subject field, edit the default subject line if required.
2. In the Body field, enter your messages.
To send a referral letter to a specialist, click Send.

Results

A specialist referral letter is added to the Consult actions > Other actions section with its status.
Specialist Referral -Print Example

What to do next

In the Consult actions > Other actions section, if required:

To print a copy of the document, click Print.
To reprint the document, hover your mouse over the printed document and click Reprint.
To delete the document, hover your mouse over the required document and click Delete.

When the consultation is complete:

To view the sent documents, select Patient Timeline > Specialist section. The selected document is displayed in the Preview window. For more information about controlling the documents, see Document Controls.
The document is also displayed in Message Centre > Outbox section. For more information, see Outbox.