Eligibility

All patients must be referred by a medical officer or nurse practitioner.

Mandatory referral criteria:

• The patient or substitute decision maker (if the patient lacks capacity) consents to specialist palliative care involvement
• The patient has a medically diagnosed, incurable and progressing life-limiting illness 
• The patient could be experiencing any of the following:
  • Complex symptoms that require specialist assessment and management and that are beyond the capacity of the treating General Practitioner (GP)
  • Psychosocial or spiritual distress that requires specialist assessment and management
  • Functional decline and safety issues in the home
  • The patient is actively dying, and the treating GP requires additional support and/or advice.
• The patient is not receiving curative treatment
• The patient has a documented Advance Care Plan or Acute Resuscitation Plan. (Please note: if the patient is for CPR then the patient will be triaged for a palliative care consultation only. If the patient is not for CPR then the patient may be triaged for consultation, shared care or direct care as appropriate).

If a patient does not meet all mandatory referral criteria and the medical officer or the nurse practitioner still wants the patient considered for referral to Metro South Palliative Care Service (MSPCS), then the medical officer or the nurse practitioner must telephone the MSPCS team in their area.

For patients based in the community:

• The patient must reside within the designated geographical area serviced by MSPCS
• No other specialist palliative care service is involved in the patient’s community care
• The patient must have ongoing involvement from their GP.

For patients based in the hospital:

• Inpatients can be referred to MSPCS from any hospital in Metro South Health.
• For patients associated with Princess Alexandra Hospital, QEII, Logan, Beaudesert or Redland Hospitals:
  • If the referring team is providing follow-up treatment in one of the above hospitals, the MSPCS will see the patient in an OPD clinic closest to the hospital
  • If the patient has completed their hospital treatments, is not receiving further follow-up by hospital treating teams and is returning home to an area outside the Metro South region then the patient is not eligible for referral to MSPCS. Please refer to the local palliative care team in the patient's residential area.

For patients based in a Residential Aged Care Facility:

• The patient must reside within the designated geographical area serviced by MSPCS
• No other specialist palliative care service is involved in the patient's community care
• The patient's GP must have consented to specialist palliative care involvement

How to refer

Response categories:

Please triage the urgency of response according to the following categories:

• urgent - needs to be contacted within 24 hours
• priority - needs to be contacted within 3 days
• routine - needs to be contacted within 7 days.

Please note: If urgent or priority response is required, then please phone the appropriate Team Leader on the contact list to discuss.

Referral process:

• Confirm eligibility against the above criteria.
• Please provide a medical officer or nurse practitioner referral including supporting information i.e. patient details, detailed health summary, recent correspondence, Advance Care Planning documents, current medication and allergy list and investigation reports to the appropriate MSPCS team in your area.
• Indicate the response category on the referral (i.e. urgent – within 24 hours, priority – within 3 days; routine – within 7 days).
• All referrals are reviewed by the Team Leader daily (Monday-Friday) during business hours

Please note: Patients will be contacted and seen within business hours, Monday to Friday.

Where to send the referral

Our preferred method of receiving referrals is via GP Smart Referrals. Please see About Smart Referrals

Logan Centre
(Logan Hospital OPD and community referrals - including Beaudesert area)
Phone: 3089 2070
Fax: 3089 2090

Brisbane South
(Corinda Community Centre, OPD and community referrals)
Phone: 3710 2201
Fax: 3710 2230

Redland Centre
(Redland Hospital OPD and community referrals)
Phone: 3488 3639
Fax: 3488 3650

Residential Aged Care Facilities in Metro South
Phone: 1800 772 722
Fax: 3893 4147
Email: MSPCSRACF@health.qld.gov.au

Costs

There are no costs for medical, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, counselling support. There are some costs related to the provision of medical aids and equipment and domiciliary nursing.