For Doctors
Thanks for considering me in referring your patient for review of their spinal condition.
As we are fortunate in often having a number of referrals at any one time, I have tried to institute a basic system of triage so that patients with most discomfort or more urgent medical need are expedited through our system.
Obviously your input here is critical.
If you feel that your patient requires urgent review or admission to the Brisbane Private or Princess Alexandra Hospitals, please bypass these suggestions and call our office on 38347024, telling our office staff that the matter requires urgent attention. If you need to contact me urgently at any time please call the Princes Alexandra Hospital on 32402111 and ask to be connected to my mobile phone.
If there is some capacity to review your patient in a semi-urgent or elective setting, please fax us a referral to 38346105 accompanied by any available radiological reports. We will then contact your patient and request some basic information, asking for a completed disability score and pain distribution diagram. We then use this clinical material to allocate appointments, hopefully streaming the most urgent cases forward.
On occasions, if the likelihood of an appointment within a reasonable time frame is diminished due to either my absence or an unusually high volume of requests, I may seek your indulgence by asking Dr Bill Ryan to see the patient in the hope that patients with conditions in need of attention are not left untreated for an unnecessarily prolonged period. We will always notify you in writing if this is the case and you are most welcome to revert the patient to my clinic at any stage. Dr Ryan offers a consulting service and non-operative treatment and management of spinal conditions however no longer undertakes surgical procedures. If he feels that surgery requires consideration, the patient will mostly be referred to myself for urgent assessment.
I hope this helps in the most expeditious care of your patient. Thank you for your continued support of my practice
Kind Regards
Richard Williams