Find out how to refer your patients to our hospitals, outpatient clinics and community health services.

Clinical Prioritisation Criteria

Clinical Prioritisation Criteria are clinical decision support tools.

They provide clinical assessment, management and referral advice for health providers.

The criteria make sure:

• referrals have all the information they need for triage
• appointments are given in order of clinical urgency
• patients are ready for care at their first appointment
• improved referral and communication processes between referrers and specialist outpatient services.

Read more about Clinical Prioritisation Criteria on the Queensland Government website. We also have our own referral guidelines.

HealthPathways

HealthPathways is a hospital referral guideline that includes the Queensland Government Clinical Prioritisation Criteria. 

You should use HealthPathways at the point of care. Hospital specialists, nurses, allied health and other health professionals can also use this service.

To access HealthPathways, you can register on the HealthPathways website or call 07 3156 4346 Monday to Friday.

Referrals to our health services

If your patient meets the category 1 criteria please mark your referral as urgent if you're using Smart Referrals.

We accept referrals for specialist outpatients, allied health and nurse outpatients at the following hospitals.

• Princess Alexandra Hospital
• Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital
• Logan Hospital
• Bayside Health Service 
• Beaudesert Hospital

We also accept referrals for community health services such as chronic disease services, Rehab@Home and Dementia Outreach Service.

Using Smart Referrals

We prefer to get electronic referrals through Smart Referrals. It's also easy for GPs to track and follow up referrals and mark them urgent if needed.

Smart Referrals integrates with your practice management system – it works with both Best Practice or Medical Director. If you don't use Best Practice or Medical Director, you can send us electronic referrals using secure messaging.

How to use Smart Referrals

1. Fill in Practice registration form (PDF, 257.47 KB)
2. Fill in the Terms of access form (PDF, 548.51 KB)
3. Email both forms to GPLO_programs2@health.qld.gov.au
4. Install Smart Referrals into your practice management software – this is free to use
5. Do our Smart Referrals training – we do online and face-to-face training.

Registration and training support

If you need help registering for Smart Referrals or you'd like more information about  training, you can contact us by:

• email: GPLO_Programs2@health.qld.gov.au
• phone: 1300 364 155 and select option 2 (for GPs only) – Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm.

Technical and software support

If you need technical support or help installing the software, you can contact Smart Referrals by:

• email: CEQ_SmartReferrals@health.qld.gov.au
• phone: 1300 478 439  and select option 2 – available 24 hours a day.

Smart Referrals user guides

Smart Referrals user guides are on the Queensland Health website. 

Using secure messaging

If you don't use Smart Referrals you can refer patients using our secure messaging service. 

Use your existing practice software to send referrals to the following addresses:

• MQ4113000HC – for Medical Objects
• qldmshrh – for HealthLink EDI.

Sending large file attachments

If you can't attach files due to size limits, and your referral is urgent:

• Contact the MSH GPLO team 1300 364 155 and select option 2.
• We'll email you a Kiteworks link.
• Select the Kiteworks link in the email to upload your referral and attachments.

Using fax

If you need to, you can fax your referral to us on 1300 364 248. But faxes are often sent to the wrong place and there's no way for you to track them.

Contact us

For advice about referring patients, contact our GP liaison team by:

• email: GPLO_Programs2@health.qld.gov.au
• phone: 1300 364 155 and select option 2 (for GPs only) – Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm.