South Western Sydney LHD’s six acute care public hospitals are about to ditch paper-based referrals.
Digital referral specialist Consultmed has begun rolling out its suite of solutions across South Western Sydney LHD, connecting six public hospitals, 930 departments and clinical services to the community.
The goal is to “axe the fax” across the SWSLHD within 12 months using a comprehensive suite of digital solutions, including:
- Digital referral management: manage all referrals between primary to secondary care and intra-hospital services;
- Advice and Guidance: enabling primary care providers to request secure specialist advice, reducing unnecessary hospital presentations;
- Automated referral tracking: supporting both healthcare providers and patients/carers with real-time updates via secure email and SMS;
- Digitisation of paper-based referral forms: converting forms into digital formats, incorporating both statewide and local referral criteria;
- Consultpilot AI: transforming paper referrals and other healthcare documents into structured, digital formats through Consultmed’s AI technology;
- Integration with Oracle Cerner EMR and PAS: ensuring seamless interoperability with existing systems, with future plans to integrate with SDPR;
- Email and eFax integration: consolidating all email and eFax referrals directly into Consultmed’s secure inbox;
- Digital consent features: capturing informed consent for financial, research and other information-sharing purposes for patients and carers.
Consultmed has other projects in the works, including integration with Best Practice via Halo-Connect, the launch of the only e-referral app in Magentus’ Gentu, and a feature in Telstra Health’s Smart Marketplace for MedicalDirector users.
“When we started Consultmed, we set out to tackle one of healthcare’s most stubborn pieces of paper – referrals – and to build a platform that could seamlessly integrate into existing workflows while enabling smarter, faster, and more secure communication,” said founder and CEO, Associate Professor Vikram Palit.
“Because referrals are the backbone of the healthcare system, capturing and digitising this clinical handover is a vital step towards workflow optimisation.
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“Once digitised, technology will enable secure, bi-directional communication – that is exactly what our Advice & Guidance model of care does, preventing unnecessary hospital presentations but also helps address growing waitlists.
“With the integration of AI tools, we can now extract valuable insights from referrals to support capacity planning and resource allocation.
“However, when referrals remain on paper or are simply scanned into the medical record, those key data points are lost, rendering them unusable,” he said.
Consultmed is a recipient of seed funding from the NSW and South Australian governments.
