August 16, 2023The Outpatient services at Northern Health are vital in providing and accessing timely healthcare for the community in the north.
The Referral and Intake team, which is based at the Northern Hospital Epping, is one of the busiest components of the Outpatient division.
The team receive approximately 15,000 referrals per month across 34 specialties. It consists of 15 staff who are all committed to providing excellent patient care while ensuring all referrals are processed in an effective and timely manner. The team takes pride in their work and the important role they play in patients accessing healthcare services.
Kelly Luca, Administrating Manager says, “The Referral and Intake team is a dedicated team of administration officers who work tirelessly to ensure our consumers have access to specialist services in a timely manner. Their unwavering commitment to accuracy, efficiency, and attention to detail is significant in providing the community access to our services.”
The team is responsible for performing numerous duties, including:
- Capturing patient demographics and data integrity
- Processing referrals (both internal and external)
- Assigning referrals to specialities
- Registering referrals from referral manager to iPM
- Requesting further information from referring consultants
- Processing correspondence with referring clinicians and patients
- Booking new patient appointments
- Corresponding with patient enquires
- Monitoring and processing referrals in line with the Department of Health specialist clinics access policy.
Bonnie Ferguson, Outpatients Transformation Lead says, “The Referrals and Intake team are the behind-the-scenes workforce that has a vital role and impact in the everyday functions of the Outpatients Services Division. Over the last few years, a number of new innovations and initiatives have been brought in to improve processes, reduce paper-based referrals and improve patient safety. The Referral and Intake team has taken on these new systems without hesitation and embraced the improvements. We are all so proud of our hard-working team and know that we all play a vital role in patients accessing Northern Health’s Outpatient services.”
The team has a great deal of knowledge and skills to facilitate and assist in providing patients with timely correspondence and access to healthcare, aiming for safe, kind and trusted patient care, during their journey through the healthcare system.
Christine Millson, Administration Officer says, “Over the past nine years, it has been a pleasure working with such a dynamic team who are passionate and dedicated to providing the best patient care.”
Ashleigh Stefanakis, Team Leader, Referral and Intake team, says the team play a fundamental role in ensuring patients have a seamless experience at Northern Health.
“I am truly lucky to work with such great people.”
Thank you to the Referral and Intake team for all that you do!
Pictured in featured image (L-R): Ritchie Caruso, Kevin Tom, Taylah Beer, Marko Dimoski, Ashleigh Stefanakis, Kristina Belevski, Disha Senayaka, Nahid Wardak, Gabby Alexander, Avril Everson, Rachelle Gumabon.
