Posted on 9 Sep, 2025 in
Bridging Hospital and Community Care: The SWSLHD Digital Referral Story.
South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) partnered with Consultmed to modernise referral management across its hospitals and community services. Serving a population of more than 1 million people, the District faced growing demand and inefficiencies with paper, fax, and phone-based referral processes.
The project aimed to deliver a secure, digital referral platform that improves transparency for patients and carers, reduces the administrative burden for staff, and creates more efficient pathways between GPs and specialists. The first stage of implementation commenced at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals, supported by the launch of a Patient and Carer Portal to give families real-time visibility of their referral journey.
This initiative marks the beginning of a District-wide rollout that will progressively extend to other hospitals and services, positioning SWSLHD as a leader in digital transformation of referral pathways in NSW.
Implementation Approach
The project commenced in November 2024, and in just six months Consultmed successfully delivered the first phase of implementation. The initial go-live took place in July 2025 at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals, covering 93 outpatient clinics. Legacy processes such as faxing, scanning and manual handling were replaced with streamlined digital workflows.
To ensure a seamless experience for SWSLHD staff, Consultmed was integrated with NSW Health’s single sign-on (SSO), Oracle Cerner’s electronic medical record (EMR), and Dedalus’ Patient Management System (IPM). Referral forms were co-designed in collaboration with hospital staff to align with existing triage and clinical processes, enabling a smooth transition and rapid adoption.
Amy Coghill, Business Manager for Non-admitted Patients and Corporate Partnerships at SWSLHD highlighted the impact of the new system:
“The Consultmed system has been an easy and intuitive system to use as an administration department who oversees management of over 600 new referrals per week. The ability to have transparent information for referrers and patients to know what is happening with their referral has been a fantastic tool to help support better communication across primary care provider, specialist, and patient.”
The project was governed by a joint Consultmed–SWSLHD team, with targeted training, floor-walking, and communication campaigns to support adoption. Engagement also extended beyond hospital staff to local GPs, specialists, and the South Western Sydney PHN, ensuring community referrers were supported during the transition.
Following the successful go-live, a major milestone was achieved in September 2025 with the launch of the Patient and Carer Portal. This new channel enabled families to securely upload referrals and receive automatic notifications at key points in the journey – when their referral was received, triaged and booked. By giving families visibility and reassurance, the portal has strengthened communication between primary care, specialist services and patients, while reducing administrative follow-up for clinicians.
Outcomes Achieved
| Area | Before (Paper/Fax Process) | After (Consultmed Digital Referrals) |
| Referral pathways | Multiple manual steps (fax, post, phone); risk of lost or delayed referrals | Over 5,000 referrals processed within the first eight weeks, including more than 2,000 submitted digitally. Direct digital submission to clinics eliminated duplication and reduced delays. |
| Patient & carer experience | Patients often had to deliver paper referrals in person at the front desk or rely on GPs faxing them; no visibility of referral status | Families now receive real-time email notifications, providing full transparency on referral status. |
| Administrative workload | Staff manually handled faxes, scanned, printed, and uploaded documents | Administrative workload has been significantly reduced, with automated workflows freeing staff to focus more on patient care. |
| Data visibility | Limited tracking; difficult to measure referral volumes or timelines, estimated reporting only | Managers and clinicians have real-time oversight of referrals across clinics, supported by accurate reporting. Within the first nine weeks, 75% of referrals were triaged within seven days. |
| Adoption | Fax and phone were entrenched, inconsistent uptake of alternatives | Rapid uptake across services: adoption increased from 16% in July to 38% in August and 79% in September, with volumes continuing to trend upward. |
Continuing the journey
Building on this success, SWSLHD and Consultmed are expanding digital referrals across additional hospitals and services within the District, with full implementation planned within 6 months. Key milestones include:
- Bowral & District Hospital scheduled to go live in October 2025.
- Fairfield Hospital, Liverpool and Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospitals, as well as Community Services to follow.
- Broader adoption of the Patient and Carer Portal to provide families with greater visibility of their referral journey.
- Enhanced integration with hospital systems to deliver end-to-end digital workflows.
- Expansion of Advice & Guidance features to strengthen collaboration between GPs and specialists.
- Incorporation of eRequests for radiology and pathology
- Sending letters and results back to GPs, closing the loop between SWSLHD hospitals and primary care.
Through these initiatives, SWSLHD is positioning itself as a leader in digital transformation, creating stronger connections between primary care, specialist services and the community, and delivering more timely, transparent and patient-centred care.
For more detail on the SWSLHD rollout, you can read the full story in Pulse+IT:
Consultmed to help axe the fax across South Western Sydney
To learn more about sending digital referrals at SWSLHD, visit the SWSLHD webpage.