Occupational Therapy (Program)Outpatient
Useful Management Information
Before referring your patient, consider whether your patient may be:
- Eligible for Occupational Therapy services within an NDIS package of care
- Eligible for Occupational Therapy services within a My Aged Care, level 3 or 4 Home Care Package
- More appropriate for Complex Care, MAPs or TCP
- Eligible for TCA team navigation to see a Private Occupational Therapist
- More appropriate for Outpatient or other Community Occupational Therapy serviced within the Gold Coast Hospital Health Service, eg. Community Rehabilitation, Palliative Care
Exclusion Criteria:
- If patients have not exhausted their Team Care Arrangements they are not eligible
- Patients under 18 years of age are not eligible
- Patients located outside the Gold Coast Health District are not eligible
- Patients residing in a RACF are not eligible
- Patients accessing NDIS are not eligible
- Patients accessing a level 3 or 4 Home Care Package through My Aged Care are not eligible
- Referrals for ongoing care for a chronic condition are not eligible
- WorkCover patients and Gold cardholders are not eligible
- Referrals to assist clients wishing to access NDIS are not eligible, refer to Local Area Coordinators
Are you referring to the right service?
- This service is for adults, 18 years and older who require occupational therapy assessment/intervention within the home environment
- Please note this service is time-limited
- GP Community Referrals Accepted for:
- Specialised equipment trials/prescription
- Specialised equipment trials/prescription
- Hospital Post-Acute Referrals Accepted or:
- Specialised equipment trials/prescription
- Falls assessment/education
- Functional/formal cognitive assessment/intervention
- Occupational performance assessment/intervention
- Home safety assessment
- Carer support assessment/intervention for manual/patient/equipment handling
- Energy management/conservation education
- Pressure injury prevention/management education/intervention
- Pre-operative home visit (hip, knee, and shoulder replacements)
- Chronic Kidney Disease pre dialysis assessment
Minimum Referral Criteria
Category 2
(Appointment within 3-5 working days)
- Patients at high risk of mechanical falls/readmission
- Preoperative assessment – consider date of surgery
- Patient/carer requiring assistance with transfer techniques or equipment following traumatic injury, e.g. NWB
- Post-acute patients at high risk of developing pressure areas or has new current pressure area (ie. not chronic)
- Pre-dialysis assessment – consider if required within 3-5 working days
Category 3
(Appointment within 6-14 working days)
- Patient’s ADLs/mobility at risk requiring prescription/replacement equipment (bathroom/pressure/mobility aid)
- Preoperative assessment – consider date of surgery
- Patient requiring cognitive screen for Cognitive Disorders Clinic
- Patient requiring cognitive assessment/intervention to maintain safety and function within the home environment
- Post-acute patients with multiple co-morbidities requiring intervention to prevent loss of function
- Pre-dialysis assessment – consider if required within 6-14 working days
Category 4
(Appointment within 15-28 working days)
- Preoperative assessment – consider date of surgery
- Patients requiring review of occupational performance/ADLs
- Patients requiring education/intervention for self-management of chronic conditions
- Pre-dialysis assessment – consider if required within 15-28 working days
If your patient does not meet the minimum referral criteria
- Assessment and management information may be found on a range of conditions at HealthPathways
- If the patient does not meet the criteria for referral but the referring practitioner believes the patient requires specialist review, a clinical override may be requested:
- Please explain why (e.g. warning signs or symptoms, clinical modifiers, uncertain about diagnosis, etc.)
- Please note that your referral may not be accepted or may be redirected to another service
Out of Scope Services
The following conditions are out of scope for this service:
- Driving Assessments
- Vascular Intervention
- NDIS Access Request Reports
- Acute Hand Management
- Splints
- Persistent/chronic pain
Essential Referral Information
- Patient Consent to referral
- Referral Reason/s
- Relevant Medical history
- Relevant Surgical history
- Relevant Social history
Additional Referral Information
- Previous level of function
Out of Catchment
Gold Coast Health is responsible for providing public health services to the people who reside within its boundaries. Special consideration is made for patients requiring tertiary services or for services that are not provided by their local hospital and health service district. If your patient lives outside the Gold Coast Health catchment area and you wish to refer them to one of our services, please indicate relevant medical or social information that will assist with the processing of your referral.
Notes
Please note that 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 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 becoming pregnant) may affect the urgency categorisation and should be communicated as soon as possible.
- 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.
- If your patient consents to telehealth, please indicate in the body of the referral.
Send Referrals To
Smart Referrals
Preferred Method
About Smart Referrals
Secure Web Transfer
Send to: Gold Coast Health Service District
Internal Referrals
Not Available
Fax
Post
Booking and Referral Centre
Gold Coast University Hospital
1 Hospital Boulevard
Southport QLD 4215
Enquiries
Service Availability
Facilities
If you would like to send a named referral, please address it to the specialist listed above, who will allocate a suitably qualified specialist to see the patient. Alternatively, you can view a full list of our specialists.