This webpage provides information about sending your patients referral details from primary health care services to WSLHD outpatient services using eReferral. This is intended for primary care General Practitioners, Specialists, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals.
Referring your patient to WSLHD Ambulatory Care Services and Clinics
Information about referring to Western Sydney Local Health District services can be viewed here.
NOTE: Only health professionals can access Western Sydney HealthPathways website.
A password is required.
If you don’t have the login details, you can contact the WentWest - Western Sydney HealthPathways team at:
Electronic referrals in WSLHD
Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) is delighted to partner with HealthLink to enable electronic referrals directly from your GP medical records systems. The electronic referral management system has been designed and built in collaboration with eHealth NSW, the Ministry of Health and representatives from across the state.
An eReferral is an electronic document that can be sent electronically from one healthcare service to another, and can replace the current process of faxing or posting. This will allow referrers to:
- efficiently send secure eReferrals to clinics across Western Sydney Local Health District and
- receive notifications on the acceptance of the referral and tracking referrals
Most importantly, eReferrals improve clinical information which enhance the triage and health management of your patient’s journey, improve patient safety and reduce specialist outpatient wait times.
HealthLink eReferral
HealthLink eReferral solution streamlines the completion and submission of electronic referrals. HealthLink eReferral are integrated within the following software programs:
- Best Practice
- Genie
- Medical Director
- Medtech Evolution
- Shexie Platinum
- Zedmed
Users benefit from capabilities such as pre-population, field validation and consistency checks, conditional visibility, intuitive layout, support for attachments, and ability to save and return to the draft referral at a later time (parking).
From your software programs, you can select a form, have it pre-populated automatically with data from the electronic patient record, have it validated and sent securely to the intended recipient, and
receive an acknowledgement of receipt electronically. A copy of the form will automatically be stored securely in the patient’s record.
How to check if your practice has the latest version of the software to have access to the eReferral HealthLink Forms
WSLHD Services with access to HealthLink eReferral
The following services only accept HealthLink eReferrals embedded in Practice Management Systems or via the HealthLink Portal. More information can be found in the links on this page or on HealthPathways
Auburn Hospital
Blacktown Hospital
- Gastroenterology
- Hepatology
- Women’s Health Services
Westmead Hospital
- Chronic Pain Service
- Opthalmology
- Women's Health Services
Getting Started with HealthLink – Help & Support, Tutorials and User Guides
If your practice uses Best Practice, Genie, Medical Director, Medtech Evolution, Shexie Platinum or Zedmed, then HealthLink can be integrated into the system at no cost. No separate logins are required. Alternately, you can use MyHealthLink Portal.
This service is free for General Practitioners, Specialists, Nursing & Allied Health Professionals to send HealthLink eReferrals to Western Sydney Local Health District services.
To get started, simply check your practice is HealthLink enabled.
To register:
If you don’t already have a HealthLink Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) account, complete the HealthLink Service Application Form here.
HealthLink Help and Support
For HealthLink queries or technical support, please contact HealthLink Help and Support:
HealthLink GP Tutorials and User Guides
To find out how to send HealthLink eReferrals with your practice system, see:
HealthLink resource hub
Support document include:
Best Practice Tutorial and User Guides
Tutorial: HealthLink eReferral for Best Practice
Genie Solution Tutorial and User Guides
Tutorial: HealthLink eReferral for Genie
HealthLink SmartForms Tutorial - Genie from Clanwilliam Health on Vimeo.
Medical Director Tutorial and User Guides
Tutorial: HealthLink eReferral for MedicalDirector
HealthLink SmartForms Tutorial - MedicalDirector from Clanwilliam Health on Vimeo.
MedTech User Guide:
- MedTech User Guides - HealthLink - Refer to ‘MedTech Evolution – A guide on configuring and using HealthLink eReferral’
Shexie User Guide:
- Shexie User Guides - HealthLink – Refer to ‘Configure Shexie for use with HealthLink’
MyHealthLink Portal Tutorial and User Guide:
Tutorial: HealthLink eReferral for MyHealthLink Portal
HealthLink SmartForms Tutorial - MyHealthLink Portal from Clanwilliam Health on Vimeo.
Zedmed
TBC
Why should I use eReferrals instead of fax?
eReferrals were introduced in response to GP feedback that the existing referral processes were too time consuming. In particular, fax referrals take longer to process, which results in patients waiting longer to be referred for assessment. eReferrals are integrated with existing PMSs and pre-populate available patient data.
To send an eReferral, you just need to check patient details, enter information about their needs and add any necessary attachments to support an assessment. This makes eReferrals the quickest and easiest way to refer patients to WSLHD.
Why did Western Sydney Local Health District introduce GP eReferrals?
The introduction of eReferral was established as a state-wide project through eHealth NSW, to improve the quality and safety of referral processes, ease of use, avoiding wastage and minimising patient delay to accessing ambulatory care services.
For Western Sydney Local Health District, eReferral aims to play a role in transforming a patient’s transition from primary to secondary care by enabling referrals to be securely sent, reducing the reliance on legacy communication systems including fax.
General practitioners now receive acknowledgement the referral has been received by the Western Sydney Local Health District service, which gives them and their patients peace of mind, and reduces time with referrers no longer having to follow up or generate multiple referrals.
How to I find out which Practice Management System (PMS) version my practice has?
Here are quick guides that show you how to check what version you have in the following PMSs.
- Best Practice
- Genie
- MedicalDirector
- Medtech Evolution: Please call medtech support on 1800 148 165
- Shexie Platinum: Please call Shexie Support Team on 1300 743 943
- Zedmed: Please call Zedmed Support Team on 1300 933 000
HealthLink eReferrals are available on:
- Best Practice Lava SP3 and above
- Genie v8.8 and above
- MedicalDirector 3.16 and above
- Medtech Evolution 10.4.4 and above
- Shexie Platinum
- Zedmed
These Practice Management Systems make up more than 80% of the general practice PMS market in Australia.
How can I send an eReferral without a Practice Management System?
You can send and receive eReferrals without a Practice Management System (PMS) through the My HealthLink Portal. The My HealthLink Portal is an online portal designed to enable smaller medical practices and individual healthcare providers to utilise HealthLink eReferral technology.
By using the My HealthLink Portal, smaller organisations can submit via a web browser.
The My HealthLink Portal is protected by digital certificates and advanced HealthLink security and backed by expert technical support from HealthLink.
You can watch a tutorial video to learn more about how the My HealthLink Portal works here: HealthLink eReferral Tutorial – MyHealthLink Portal.
How do I know an eReferral submission has been successful?
If your submission has been successful, you’ll get a red message at the top of the form confirming it has been sent and acknowledged.
If your submission is unsuccessful, it will display an error message. In this case, please either:
To check if there are any outstanding referrals, you can access ‘Parked’ forms and resume them. Each PMS handles Parked forms differently so check out our user guides to see how you can access them.
What if I send an eReferral and it fails?
If for some reason your eReferral fails, an error message will appear. In the first instance, we recommend you contact HealthLink either via:
If it does fail, the information you already entered should be saved so you won’t have to complete the form again.
I have submitted an eReferral for my patient, where can I find a copy of the referral in my system?
All PMSs store eReferrals in some type of inbox so you can refer back to what you have sent. However, in each PMS the name of the inbox and how you find it, is slightly different.
For example, in MedicalDirector the inbox is called “letters” and when you select the “letters” tab you will see your past eReferrals and messages.
What should I do if my patient requires and urgent referral?
If the patient is critical requiring urgent emergency medical care, call an ambulance and refer to the local hospital emergency department.
If the patient is stable but warrants urgent assessment, to locate health service contact details and make an urgent referral, please see HealthPathways Western Sydney. In most instances, a phone call the service is advised, prior to sending the referral.
How to find a service on Western Sydney HealthPathways:
- Use the search bar at the top and enter ‘Urgent’.
- Review the drop-down list of referral pages
- on the relevant specialty
- If localised, under the heading Public, # 3. Contact the service – click on the drop-down arrow to select the clinic
- Click on the drop-down arrow to view the referral contact details and further advice how to refer a patient urgently.
Note: To access HealthPathways Western Sydney, a password is required.
If you don’t have the login details, you can contact the WentWest - Western Sydney HealthPathways team during business hours at:
Note: The HealthLink electronic referral form contains an option to select Urgent.
See the below example:
How is patient information protected when I send a WSLHD eReferral?
The WSLHD eReferrals use end-to-end encryption to ensure privacy and security. Personal information and documents are retained securely within the WSLHD system.
By default, the form will load the minimum information required by WSLHD to create a record so that an assessment can be organised.
I usually delegate the referral to one of our practice nurses. Will they be able to send the eReferral?
Anybody who currently has access to your PMS will be able to access WSLHD eReferrals. Depending on how your PMS is configured, it may be possible for practice nurses to submit an eReferral.
For more information on this, please contact HealthLink: