Far North Queensland HealthPathways
If you are a referring health provider, you can find referral criteria and contact information on the FNQ HealthPathways website. The pathways provide clinical assessment, management, and referral advice for health providers.
GPs can use HealthPathways at the point of care. It can also be used by hospital specialists, nurses, allied health and other health professionals in the Cairns and Hinterland and Torres and Cape regions.
The pathways have been jointly developed by hospital clinicians and general practice teams.
How to access FNQ HealthPathways
If you are a health professional and you would like to have access to the FNQ HealthPathways, you can contact the coordinator by registering on the HealthPathways website.
Clinical Prioritisation Criteria
Clinical Prioritisation Criteria (CPC) are clinical decision support tools. They help ensure referrals to public specialist outpatient services are triaged according to how urgent each case is.
The prioritisation criteria include the following:
- 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.
How to refer a patient
Fill in the referral form for the specialist department you want or use Smart Referrals.
Send the referral through one of the following platforms:
- Smart Referrals
- Medical Objects: ID CC4870000GB
- HealthLink ID: qldcandh
You can also send them via:
Post
PO Box 902
Cairns QLD 4870
Fax
07 4226 8100 (Health Professionals use only)
Referring a patient to Cairns Hospital Emergency Department
If you are a GP, you don’t need to call the emergency department unless you're seeking clinical advice.
Make sure your patient has their referral letter with them. You can fax any additional information to the emergency department if you need to.
If your patient is arriving by ambulance, make sure they have their referral letter and any clinical handover documents with them.