Contacts for GPs
Contact
GPs can contact the Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) switchboard on 9224 2244.
To speak with a specific doctor, ask the switchboard to put you through to the doctor by name or position. Ensure that you identify yourself as a GP when calling.
To contact specific departments in the hospital, refer to the service directory.
COVID-positive patients
If you have a COVID-positive patient who needs care, find out more information here:
The Royal Perth Hospital Ambulatory Unit (RPH AU) has 10 spaces for patients aged 16 and over who are too sick/complex for community care but not sick enough for Emergency care.
Patients must live or stay in the RPH Catchment Area.
The aim is to:
- provide same-day rapid access to assessment, diagnostics and treatment so that patients spend hours, rather than days in hospital
- allow patients to safely go home on the same day they arrive in hospital
- improve how patients experience the care they are provided
The Unit is staffed with a Geriatrician and Physician (ED/acute medicine), Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Social Work and can access Aboriginal Health Liaison Officers.
Hours
It is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm excluding public holidays.
Inclusion Criteria
This service is relevant for clinically stable patients who are 16 or older, who live or stay in the RPH catchment area AND could avoid an imminent hospital admission through an ambulatory care visit.
Conditions include, but are not limited to:
- Low risk chest pain
- Acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure not requiring acute inpatient admission
- Transient Ischaemic Attack
- Palpitations
- Pulmonary Embolism/Deep Vein Thrombosis
- Hypertension
- Syncope
- Dizziness/vertigo
- Headache
- Cellulitis
- Gastritis, epigastric pain
- Anaemia/iron deficiency
- Constipation/diarrhoea
- Urinary tract infection/Pyelonephritis
- Urinary retention/catheter change
- Falls
- Non-surgical fractures
- Localised pain – non-traumatic
- Functional decline/deconditioning
Exclusion Criteria
The Unit is not suitable for patients under the age of 16 and people who live outside the hospital catchment area.
It is not suitable for patients who are:
- Clinically unstable or likely to require overnight admission
- Requiring urgent surgery
- Intoxicated
- Needing primary mental health review
- Ophthalmology presentations
- Ongoing active bleeding
- Seizures
- Suffering dementia with difficult-to-control behaviours
Referrals
GPs can contact the RPH AU Clinical Nurse Manager or Consultant to discuss suitability on 0421939335 between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays)
If the patient does not meet the criteria, then the referring GP will be advised and offered alternative suggestions.
If the referral sounds appropriate and the unit has capacity, the referring GP is asked to:
- Ensure the patient and their family understands the Unit offers review, workup and management with discharge on the same day.
- Obtain consent from patient (or if cognitively impaired, their next of kin) to be contacted by RPH AU staff
- Advise the patient that the Unit staff will contact them and their next of kin with an appointment time on the same day or following business day.
- Please advise RPH if the patient does not want their next of kin contacted.
- Advise RACF patients and staff, the RPH team will contact the RACF nurse to help book transport and provide an escort.
- Send a referral with the patient’s details and clinical summary/reason for referral to RPH AU via rph.ambulatoryunitreferrals@health.wa.gov.au or fax: 9224 1043.
RPH AU referrals are not a substitute for a rapid access or immediate outpatient appointment (seen within 7 days), where available and more clinically appropriate.
Acute management / referral to the hospital
Admissions to the Acute Medical Unit (AMU) usually occur via the Emergency Department. The AMU does not usually have the capacity to accept direct admissions.
However, the AMU Admitting Registrar or Consultant are happy to discuss patient care with GPs. If admission is required, they will advise on the best way to facilitate this.
For acute management advice, GPs can call the RPH switchboard on 9224 2244 and ask to speak with the AMU Admitting Registrar or Consultant.
Current inpatients and recent discharges
Call the RPH switchboard on 9224 2244 and ask to speak with the AMU Ward Registrar.
More about the AMU
The AMU serves as the primary admitting ward for non-elective acute medical patients at Royal Perth Hospital. Most patients arrive via the Emergency Department.
Patients stay for up to 72 hours. Typically, the 50-bed ward is at or above full occupancy, acting as a busy, multidisciplinary assessment and management area for medical admissions. Sub-specialty patients and short stay admissions are managed on the AMU. Emphasis is placed on early discharge and transfer planning.
Staff aim to deliver high quality, evidence based and safe healthcare in a timely manner to offer a smooth patient journey.
A multidisciplinary model of care is integral to the successful management of AMU patients; medical, nursing and allied health staff work in collaboration to assess, plan and initiate first line inpatient care for medical patients. The AMU senior medical workforce consists of both dedicated AMU consultants and dual trained consultants who specialise in acute medicine, respiratory medicine, renal medicine, endocrinology, rheumatology, and geriatric medicine.
Royal Perth Hospital and Bentley Health Service routinely uploads discharge summaries, outpatient letters and pathology and imaging results to the patient’s My Health Record where they have one and have not withdrawn permission to upload.
If possible, please check the My Health Record first before requesting records.
Health Records Management Department
Phone: 9224 2071
Email: RPH.InfoCentre@health.wa.gov.au
An emailed request from a practice email address is preferred, although a faxed request on the GP practice letterhead is also acceptable. The request must include:
- full patient name
- date of birth
- medical record number (if known)
- information requirements
- patient signature (not required if the requesting practice is listed on RPH systems as the patient's current GP)
- please attach a scanned signed authority on practice letterhead if emailing
- if emailing, a comprehensive email signature which includes the practice address, phone number and website (if applicable) to validate the request
- email address the information should be sent to, if not the requestor’s email – this must be a practice email. Please note documents will only be able to access and download by the email address that the documents are emailed to. This cannot be forwarded to another staff member in the practice to download it on your behalf.
For urgent patient information contact the consultant, registrar or resident of the team that has been caring for the patient.
RPH Health Information Management Services only deal with heath record requests from other health professionals and services. Please DO NOT send referrals or other queries to them, as this may delay care. Please direct patients enquiring about their medical records to Accessing Health Records.
Pathwest Biochemistry, Haematology and Coag
Phone: 9224 2422
Microbiology
Phone: 9224 2444
Immunology
Phone: 9224 3361
Histopathology
Phone: 9224 2466
ECG / Exercise tests
Phone: 9224 2031
Echocardiogram
Phone: 9224 3290
Imaging Services
Phone: 9224 2125 or 9224 1087
Fax: 9224 2912
Gastroscopy / Colonoscopy
Phone: 9224 3348
Urgent outpatient referrals
- For immediate outpatient referrals contact the Registrar or Consultant of the specialty team via the switchboard on 9224 2244.
- After verbal clinical handover and agreement with the registrar that the patient requires an appointment with RPH within 7 days please email the patient’s referral to: RPH.OutpatientReferrals@health.wa.gov.au.
All other referrals
Contact: Central Referral Service
Fax: 1300 365 056
Email: centralreferralservice@health.wa.gov.au
Secure Messaging: via healthLink to ‘crefserv’
For more information about RPH's outpatient processes, please visit the outpatients page.
Staff members in the Central Admission Services Area manage all Elective Surgical Waitlists. The co-ordinator can take calls from GPs, practice staff and patients with queries regarding patients on Royal Perth Hospital’s surgical waiting lists.
In some instances, it may be necessary to transfer the call to the specialty area concerned or to locate the patient's health record, investigate the situation and liaise with the appropriate staff before re-contacting either the GP and/or patient to inform of the situation.
Phone: 9224 3409
Contact us to check or update your practice details or enrol for electronic or faxed discharge summaries and outpatient letters.
-
-
Phone 9224 3673
-
Fax 92242348
Phone 9224 3673
Fax 92242348
Hours
9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday
The Hospital Liaison GP is a GP based at Royal Perth Hospital for 8 hours per week.
The Hospital Liaison GP works on system issues to improve patient care as they move between Royal Perth Bentley Group (RPBG) hospitals and care in the community, in collaboration with the WA Primary Health Alliance (external site), and other primary health care agencies, the Department of Health and other Hospital Liaison GPs regarding GP/Hospital interface issues.
Objectives
- Provide a General Practice perspective on patient care at Royal Perth and Bentley hospitals.
- Assist communication between the hospital and GPs with regard to patient care.
- Represent General Practice in strategic planning and policy development within the Royal Perth and Bentley hospitals and East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS).
- Participate in the development of collaborative initiatives involving RPBG and EMHS, General Practice, WA Primary Health Alliance and other health care agencies.
- Liaise with WA Primary Health Alliance and the GP community on issues pertaining to the hospital / GP interface.
- Develop a perspective of Hospital / GP related issues at a state and national level.
To provide feedback about GP interaction with Royal Perth Hospital, contact the Hospital Liaison GP. Your feedback is much appreciated, vital to achieving improved patient care and communication.
Contact us
Hospital Liaison GP: Dr Jacquie Garton-Smith
Phone: 9224 3261
Email: jacquie.garton-smith@health.wa.gov.au
Queries from General Practitioners (GPs)
To ensure prompt action, queries from GPs regarding a patient or clinical service should be directed to the relevant specialty registrar or consultant in the first instance. They may be contacted via hospital switchboard on 9224 2244. The Liaison GP generally handles queries from GPs when the registrar or department has not been able to assist.
Queries from patients or relatives
The Liaison GP is unable to take queries direct from patients or relatives. These should be directed to the relevant department or Patient Experience Department on 9224 1637.
Operating hours
Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings (subject to change to accommodate meetings).
Dr Marianne Wood retired from Royal Perth Hospital in January 2023 after eighteen years as the Liaison GP for Aboriginal Health and a replacement hasn’t been appointed yet.
For information and contacts for our Aboriginal Health Services please see Royal Perth Hospital - Aboriginal Health.
For GP queries which can’t be resolved by contacting the patient’s clinical team, please contact the Hospital Liaison GP (see next listing).