SPaRTa referral criteria
Patients must meet specific criteria to be referred to a Specialist Palliative Rural Telehealth Service (SPaRTa) hub. If they are eligible, use the appropriate service hub page to access referral forms, contact details and region-specific information about the hub:
Eligibility
Who is eligible?
A patient is eligible if they have a progressive terminal illness (malignant or non-malignant) and at least one of the following:
- symptoms which the primary care team requires further advice to manage optimally
- psychosocial needs that require specialist assessment
- the patient is dying and the primary care team requires further advice or support.
Patients receiving life-prolonging treatments (e.g. palliative chemotherapy) are still eligible for referral to palliative care.
Who is not eligible?
Patients who do not meet the referral criteria should generally not be referred:
- chronic pain not associated with a progressive terminal disease
- chronic stable disease with life expectancy of several years
- the frail and elderly person
- competent patients who have declined referral
- competent patients who are unaware of their underlying disease
- patients with complex psychiatric disease who would be best treated by a psychiatrist.
Further details
Patients receiving life-prolonging treatments (e.g. palliative chemotherapy) are not excluded from referral to palliative care.
Triggers that might lead to a referral include:
- recurrent presentations to hospital
- progression of disease despite life-prolonging therapy
- low probability of success from available therapeutic options
- withdrawal or consideration of withdrawal from life-prolonging treatment
- patient or family concerns about end-of-life issues
- recent marked decline in physical function
- difficult to manage symptoms such as pain.
For more information about the referral process, find out how to Refer a patient to SPaRTa.