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Outpatient Services Policy

MP 0191/25 - Outpatient Services Policy (pdf 235KB)

Applicable to: WA health entities, excluding PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA and Health Support Services.

The Western Australian (WA) health system is committed to ensuring all Western Australians have equitable access to timely and high-quality public outpatient services by offering a range of free public outpatient services. Public outpatient services are a sub-set of non-admitted patient services within the WA health system. The provision of efficient outpatient services is supported by the Central Referral Service (CRS). The CRS is an operational team within the Department of Health that provides a centralised referral management function on behalf of hospitals, with the primary objective of streamlining the referral allocation process.

The Outpatient Services Policy (the policy) establishes the minimum clinically and culturally safe processes and procedures to enable effective management of outpatient services. These processes ensure timely, equitable, and inclusive access to a broad range of public outpatient services, including medical, surgical, mental health, dental, allied health, nursing, and midwifery care.

The policy aims to reduce delays in treatment, improve health outcomes, and enhance system efficiency by ensuring consistent referral processes that are patient centred and culturally safe. The policy also supports continuous quality improvement by guiding services to identify gaps, monitor performance, and respond to patient needs effectively.

The policy is a mandatory requirement for Health Service Providers (HSPs) under the Clinical Services Planning and Programs Policy Framework pursuant to section 26(2)(c) of the Health Services Act 2016.

The policy is also a mandatory requirement for the Department of Health pursuant to section 29 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994.

The policy supersedes OD 0503/14 Central Referral Allocation – Outpatient Services and OD 0530/14 Specialist Outpatient Services Access Policy.

Clinical mental health services designated under the Mental Health Act 2014 may be subject to additional obligations beyond those stipulated in the policy.

The policy is to be read in conjunction with: