Manage Incoming Referrals

For WACHS, use the Manage Incoming Referrals window to manage all incoming referrals that have been entered into Communicare.

Note: This functionality is available only to the Western Australian Country Health Service. In Communicare offline mode, incoming referrals are listed in the Clinical Record, but you cannot modify them.
Incoming referrals are displayed in either:
  • Incoming Referrals - list of all incoming referrals, irrespective of status
  • Waitlist - list of all incoming referrals that have been prioritised, that is the priority is not Awaiting Triage

To open an incoming referral, double-click a referral record.

To print the referral list, click Print iconPrint.

To search for specific referrals, select a value from one or more of the following lists and click Search:
  • Clinic Category - by default, incoming referrals from all clinics are listed
  • Encounter Place - by default, incoming referrals from all encounter places are listed
  • Status - by default, both tabs list all incoming referrals with a status of Waiting
  • Priority - by default:
    • Referrals with a priority of Awaiting Triage are listed on the Incoming Referrals tab
    • Iincoming referrals with a priority of All are listed on the Waitlist tab
To find a referral:
  1. Click Search to apply the search criteria that you've selected.
  2. In the Find field, enter a search term.
Tip: Only those rows that are already displayed are searched.

In addition to the information specified in the Incoming Referrals window, list days are displayed on the Manage Incoming Referrals tab. List days are the number of days since the referral was received. That is, the difference between the Received Date and today. List days are not displayed for closed, rejected or cancelled referrals. If a Waiting referral is closed, rejected or cancelled and then reinstated, the List Days are recalculated from the referral Received Date.

Incoming Referrals

On the Incoming Referrals tab, you can also add new referrals.

To add a new incoming referral, click Add. See Incoming Referral Details for further information.

To copy an incoming referral, click Copy Referral iconCopy Referral. The following information is copied:
  • Patient details, including:
    • Patient Id
    • Interpreter Required
    • Appointment Payment
  • Referral details, including:
    • Date Referred
    • Received Date
    • Referral Validity
    • Referral Priority
    • Encounter Place Referred To
    • Referral Source
    • Referrer's Name
    • Referrer's Address
    • Referral Comment
    • Referral attachments
  • All attachments.
    Note: Copying a referral with documents attached won't duplicate the documents in the patient Clinical Record.

If a referral is pending, the pending reason and due by date are displayed on the Incoming Referrals tab.