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The Central Referral Service (CRS)
The Central Referral Service (CRS)
Notice: CRS experiencing a backlog of referrals
The CRS has a backlog of referrals which is resulting in a delay in processing non-urgent referrals.
- All referrals are being opened within 1 business day.
- Of these, the urgent referrals are being processed within 1 to 2 business days.
- However, the timeframe for processing non-urgent referrals is currently up to 15 business days. Therefore, you will not receive a notification from the CRS for non-urgent referrals for up to 3 weeks.
- Please do not contact the CRS or ask your patients to contact the CRS to check on non-urgent referrals within this time-period.
- For GPs who have concerns about a specific referral, please contact the CRS team on 1300 551 142 (business hours, Monday to Friday).
The CRS processes referrals for first appointments at most specialist outpatient services within the WA public health system.
Not all referrals should be sent to the CRS. The CRS cannot process the following referrals:
- antenatal and obstetric,
- immediate referrals (patient needs review <7 days),
- mental health,
- allied health,
- internal referrals between hospitals, and
- referrals for specialist outpatient services at Peel Health Campus and services in the Great Southern, Wheatbelt, Goldfields, Midwest, and Kimberley regions. Regional sites will be progressively added to CRS scope in a staged approach.
Please send all of the above referrals directly to the relevant hospital site. Please see the Contact Details for Direct Referrals to WA Health Outpatient Services dropdown box below to send these referrals directly.
Further information on which referrals are accepted by the CRS and instructions on how to submit referrals to the CRS are included in the Referrals Processed by the CRS dropdown box below.
Referrals processed by the CRS
| Send Referrals to the CRS |
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The CRS processes referrals received for public metropolitan and select regional sites for the following specialties:
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| Metropolitan specialty* |
- Adolescent Medicine
- Anaesthetics (allergy only)
- Bariatric Surgery
- Breast Surgery
- Burns (post injury issues only)
- Cardiology
- Cardiothoracic
- Dermatology
- Direct Access Gastrointestinal Endoscopy*
- Ear, Nose and Throat*
- Endocrinology*
- Gastroenterology
- General Medicine
- General Surgery
- Genetics
- Gerontology
- Gynaecology
- Haematology
- Hepatobiliary
- Hyperbaric Medicine
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
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- Interventional Neuroradiology (NIISWA)
- Medical Oncology
- Neonatal
- Nephrology
- Neurology*
- Neurosurgery
- Ophthalmology*
- Oral Maxillofacial Surgery
- Orthopaedics
- Paediatrics
- Pain Management
- Palliative Care
- Plastic Surgery
- Radiation Oncology
- Rehabilitation
- Renal
- Respiratory Medicine
- Rheumatology*
- Spinal Surgery
- Urology*
- Vascular
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| Regional specialty |
South West
- Endocrinology*
- Gerontology
- Haematology
- Nephrology
- Neurology*
- Paediatrics
Collie Health Service
- Direct Access Gastrointestinal Endoscopy*
- General Surgery
- Gynaecology
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Pilbara
- Cardiology (including diagnostics)
- Dermatology
- Direct Access Gastrointestinal Endoscopy*
- Ear, Nose and Throat*
- Endocrinology*
- General Medicine
- General Surgery
- Gynaecology
- Neurology*
- Paediatric Medicine
- Renal Medicine
- Rheumatology*
- Urology*
- Vascular Surgery
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Please note: *These specialties have specialty-led mandatory Referral Access Criteria (RAC) in place
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Referrals processed by the CRS are accepted from the following external referrers:
- General practitioners,
- Nurse practitioners,
- Doctors from WACHS public hospitals referring into metropolitan outpatient services, and
- Private specialists referring into public specialist outpatient services.
Please note: Patients cannot submit referrals.
All referrals received by the CRS are reviewed against WA public outpatient referral requirements.
The CRS are unable to process referrals that do not include sufficient information to meet the Referral Access Criteria (RAC) or WA public outpatient referral requirements. In this case, the referral will be returned to the referrer requesting further information which will result in a delay for the patient.
For special circumstances where the RAC cannot be met e.g. financial or geographical, please include this information in the body of the referral.
How to send referrals to the CRS
The preferred method for sending referrals to the CRS is by secure messaging.
Other options include:
- Fax: 1300 365 056
- Post: GPO Box 2566, St Georges Terrace, WA 6831
Emailed referrals are not accepted.
CRS contact details
Phone: 1300 551 142
Email the CRS. Please email for enquiries only as emailed referrals are not accepted. If a referral is emailed to this address it will be returned to the referring practitioner for resubmission via secure messaging, fax or post.
Contact details for referrals to the CRS
How to send referrals to the CRS
The preferred method for sending referrals to the CRS is by secure messaging.
- HealthLink secure messaging: crefserv
- MMEx secure messaging: central@mmex.gsmhn.com.au
Other options include:
- Fax: 1300 365 056
- Post: GPO Box 2566, St Georges Terrace, WA 6831
Emailed referrals are not accepted.
CRS contact details
Phone: 1300 551 142
Email the CRS. Please email for enquiries only as emailed referrals are not accepted. Referrals that are emailed will be returned to the referring practitioner for resubmission via secure messaging, fax or post.
Referrals processed directly by hospital sites
| Do not send referrals to the CRS |
For referrals to these specialties/services or from these referrers, please do not send to the CRS and send to the relevant WA Health outpatient service directly. For details on how to send referrals to these services, please see the contact details for direct referrals to WA Health outpatient services dropdown box below.
Please send the following referrals directly to the relevant WA Health Outpatient Service:
- antenatal and obstetric,
- mental health,
- allied health,
- immediate referrals (patient needs review <7 days),
- internal referrals between hospitals,
- referrals for specialist outpatient services at Peel Health Campus,
- referrals for any regional outpatient services not listed above for the Pilbara, South West and Collie,
- referrals for outpatient services in the Great Southern, Wheatbelt, Goldfields, Midwest and Kimberley regions (regional sites will be progressively added to CRS scope in a staged approach),
- referrals to a private specialist, and
- referrals naming a specialist at a public service.
The CRS cannot process these referrals. In this case, the referral may be returned to the referrer resulting in a delay for the patient.
Referrals processed by hospital sites are accepted from the following referrers:
- Allied health and mental health professionals,<
- Internal hospital-based clinicians,
- General practitioners,
- Nurse practitioners, and
- Private specialists.
Please note: Patients cannot submit referrals.
Contact details for direct referrals to WA Health outpatient services
| WA Health outpatient services contact details |
Child and Adolescent Health Service
East Metropolitan Health Service
North Metropolitan Health Service
South Metropolitan Health Service
WA Country Health Service
Last reviewed: 18-03-2024
Produced by
System Clinical Support and Innovation Unit