Dyspepsia/heartburn/reflux > 50 years
Adult

Endoscopy

Useful Management Information

  • Consider the following:
    • Lifestyle modification (increased activity, dietary, weight, smoking, alcohol)
    • Treatment if H pylori present
    • Cease any aggravating medications if possible e.g. NSAIDS, aspirin
    • Antacid therapies
    • Other evidence based therapies (e.g. prokinetics)

NB: If a patient has been fully investigated 2 years prior to referral, then the referrer and the receiving clinician will need to exercise clinical decision making in triaging and/or value in repeat endoscopy/colonoscopy procedures.

Minimum Referral Criteria

Does your patient meet the minimum referral criteria?
Category 1 (appointment within 30 calendar days)
  • Any patient with significant impact on activities of daily living, unexplained, persistent, or recent-onset symptoms (treatment-resistant) with any of the following concerning features:
    • Gastrointestinal bleeding
    • Weight loss, ≥5% of body weight in previous 6 months
    • Difficulty swallowing
    • Persistent vomiting
    • Iron deficiency in males and postmenopausal women or unexplained iron deficiency in premenopausal women
Category 2 (appointment within 90 calendar days)
  • Any patient with significant, unexplained, persistent, or recent-onset symptoms (treatment-resistant) without concerning features
Category 3 (appointment within 365 calendar days)
  • No category 3 criteria
  • Consider other treatment pathways or an alternative diagnosis
  • If the patient does not meet the criteria for referral but the referring practitioner believes the patient requires specialist review, a clinical override may be requested:
    • Please explain why (e.g. warning signs or symptoms, clinical modifiers, uncertain about diagnosis, etc.)
  • Please note that your referral may not be accepted or may be redirected to another service

Essential Referral Information

  • Patient and family history of gastrointestinal cancer e.g. relationship to patient, age of cancer diagnosis and type of cancer
  • Medication management to date (document treatments offered and efficacy including failed treatment with moderate dose PPI for dyspepsia)
  • FBC
  • Iron studies

If a specific test result is unable to be obtained due to access, financial, religious, cultural or consent reasons a Clinical Override may be requested. This reason must be clearly articulated in the body of the referral.

Additional Referral Information

  • Previous endoscopic procedures (date and report)
  • Relevant imaging reports
  • H pylori results
Last updated 9 February 2023

Send Referrals To

Smart Referrals

Preferred Method
About Smart Referrals

Secure Web Transfer

Send to: Gold Coast Health Service District

Internal Referrals

Not available

Fax

(07) 5687 4497

Post

Booking and Referral Centre
Gold Coast University Hospital
1 Hospital Boulevard
Southport QLD 4215

Enquiries

1300 559 083

Related HealthPathways

No directly related pathways found

Service Availability

Dr Sneha John
Medical Director Endoscopy

Facilities

Gold Coast University Hospital

If you would like to send a named referral, please address it to the specialist listed above, who will allocate a suitably qualified specialist to see the patient. Alternatively, you can view a full list of our specialists.

Gold Coast Health - For Clinicians
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