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General Medicine & Acute Care Medicine

Patients who require specialist input following an episode of in-patient care are seen in General and Acute Care Medicine Clinics. This clinic also provides specialist non-surgical health care to adult patients with complex, confusing, difficult, serious or unusual medical problems.

Specialist Physicians Clinics also called the Specialist Outpatient Clinics,  are public outpatient services. These consultations have no out of pocket cost for all Medicare card holders.

Patient information

  • Who do these clinics care for?

    Adult patients over 18 years of age with multiple medical issues, and whose General Practitioner is needing specialist medical support.

  • How do I access this service?

    Urgent care is available after an evaluation in the Emergency Department.

    For all other care must be arranged by your regular GP, who will provide referral to Specialist Physicians Clinic.

  • What do I bring to an appointment?

    You should bring a signed Consent and Registration Form. This will be sent to you by SWH after your appointment has been booked.

    You should bring an up-to-date list of all your medications.

    You should bring a list of questions you may have regarding your condition.

    You may bring a family member/support person, if this is helpful.

Health professional information

  • Who do these clinics care for?

    Typically, patients at this clinic will include those with multiple medical problems for investigation, consultation and management (see point 3. below)

    1. Referrals from ED: (for patients that require urgent physician input but that are not unwell enough to require current admission). Patient needs have been discussed with the admitting medical team before referral to this clinic
    2. Referrals from Acute General Medical Units: (for review of appropriate patients post-discharge)
    3. Referrals from General Practitioners: (for patients requiring timely General Medical review, for which the next alternative is an ED presentation)

    Patients should expect to be referred back to GP with a care plan once their condition has been stabilised. There will be regular communication between SWH, the GP and the patient where there are chronic or progressive conditions that require ongoing Specialist advice or treatment.

    Generally speaking, patients will be discharged after an initial appointment and a maximum of two review appointments (unless further appointments are necessary and approved by the consultant).

  • How do I prepare my patient for an appointment?

    Please let your patients know that their referral will be triaged, and they will be contacted by South West Healthcare to book an appointment.

    The physician will write a letter to the referring practitioner after the appointment to update them on what occurred at the appointment.

    Please give your patient an up-to-date list of their medications.

    If further testing is needed prior to the clinic attendance, this will be notified to the referring practitioner after triage.

Page last updated: 13 February 2024

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