Easy Access

How to refer a patient

Enquiries

For general enquiries about accessing the services at Ramsay Clinic Berkeley Vale please call 02 4389 9100

Private health insurance is recommended and a referral from a psychiatrist or general practitioner is required.

In patient referrals

Medical practitioners should direct all referral enquiries to our EasyAccess service via telephone 1300 856 163 from 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

1. A referral from a medical practitioner is required for an inpatient admission.

2. Medical practitioners may:

• Telephone EasyAccess on 1300 856 163 to discuss referral

  Fax referral to 02 4389 9175 or email to Intake.BVP@ramsayhealth.com.au

  Please Att: Patient Intake Officer

3. Please include in the referral:

• Patient’s name, address, date of birth, contact numbers and Health Insurance details

• Outline of presenting problem

• Previous mental health history, treatments and potential risk factors

• Relevant medical history

• Current medications

4. Intake contacts the patient and:

• Undertakes a health fund check and informs the patient of the outcome

• Obtains additional information and undertakes a telephone risk assessment

5. Intake contacts psychiatrist/s appropriate to the patient’s needs

6. If admission criteria is met and a psychiatrist accepts the admission:

• Intake contacts the patient to arrange the admission

• Intake contacts the referring doctor to advise the admission date and treating psychiatrist

Referrers, please allow up to 2 days for notification of the outcome of a referral. Note: Psychiatrists have variable office hours.

On occasions when there is not a psychiatrist available to accept the admission Intake notifies the referring practitioner.

An electronic discharge summary will be sent to the referrer upon discharge of the patient and should typically arrive within 48 hours.

Important notice regarding waiting period exemption for psychiatric care benefits:

The Federal Government’s private health insurance reforms now allows eligible consumers an instant policy upgrade to cover a private psychiatric hospital admission without serving a waiting period*.

The changes, which make it easier for policy holders to access mental health services when they need it, came into effect on 1 April 2018. More information can be found at:
www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-privatehealth-supporting-mental-health

*The waiting period does not apply to upgrades where consumers have already served their 2 month waiting period on lower cover policies.