Bendigo Referral Options provides information on options for referral of patients from the Emergency Department to ensure referrals are consistent and appropriate. It is a vital tool for allowing new staff to rapidly access referral information and become familiar with the resources are available.

Private Patients

Privately insured patients can be admitted to either St John of God Bendigo or Bendigo Health under the admitting consultant of the day. Some patients may have a long association with a particular doctor and wish to be treated by them - this is subject to consultant availability. Private patients do not incur out of pocket expenses if they are admitted to Bendigo Health.

Surgical patients rarely get admitted directly to SJOG and all referrals are through the surgical registrar who will liaise with the private consultant. All bed bookings should be under AGSU and private allocation will occur from there.

All other patients should be discussed with the relevant consultant directly, but only after this has been deemed appropriate by the ED consultant. If the hour or day is not social, then refer to the oncall consultant covering that specialty.

All referrals to a private consultant must include a brief letter including date, patient name, doctor you are referring to, your name and your provider number. This is so the private consultant can practise legally.

DVA, TAC, Work Cover

War veterans with a Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) Gold card are essentially insured and treated as private patients. (As are Transport Accident Commission and WorkCover although WorkCover cases need approval from WorkCover or a letter accepting liability from the employer before they are admitted to a private hospital.)