Paediatric Services — Outpatient

Please call this number for all general enquires regarding Werribee Mercy Hospital services & patient enquires.

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The Werribee Mercy Hospital Emergency Department provides urgent assessment and treatment for people of all ages, and for all conditions.
For non-urgent conditions, there are general practitioners (GPs) located near the hospital who are available until late in the evening.
If you are unsure about your condition, or you are concerned about a family member, come to the Emergency Department.

Call this number for:
· Appointment questions
· Referral questions
· You want to speak to a nurse about why you are coming to see the specialist
· You want to change your appointment
· You want to tell us you no longer need your appointment

NURSE-ON-CALL is a phone service that provides immediate, expert health advice from a registered nurse.

If you think your situation is an emergency, you should always call 000 or go to an emergency department at a hospital.

Call for the cost of a local call from anywhere in Victoria for health advice 24 hours a day (calls from mobile phones may be charged at a higher rate).

NURSE-ON-CALL puts you directly in touch with a registered nurse for caring, professional health advice around the clock. You may need us when:

– you or someone you’re caring for is feeling unwell
– you are not sure if you should seek medical help
– you’re away from home or situated a long way from medical help
– you simply want advice or information about health services in your area.

What happens when I call for advice?
Step 1 – a registered nurse will answer your call and collect some basic details.

Step 2 – the nurse will then ask you a series of questions about your symptoms and other issues relating to your health.

Step 3 – at the end of the call the nurse may suggest ways you can care for yourself, advise you to contact a GP or, in the event that your condition is very serious, transfer the call to 000. Note that nurses do not provide a full diagnosis of your symptoms.

NURSE-ON-CALL uses the most up-to-date health information available, giving you and your family the highest quality advice. All information you provide remains confidential and records are fully secure.

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Line is a statewide telephone service av​ailable every day of the year for​​ Victorian families with children from birth to school age.

Maternal and child health nurses can provide information, support and guidance regarding a range of issues including child health, nutrition, breastfeeding, maternal and family health and parenting.

Parentline is a confidential and anonymous phone counselling service for parents and carers of children and teenagers in Victoria. We offer counselling, information and support around a range of parenting issues.

Raising Children Network is the complete resource for Australian parents, taking you from pregnancy to newborns to teenagers. We offer evidence-based content you can trust on hundreds of topics about raising children and looking after yourself as a parent.

At the Raising Children Network website, we believe that all children and families are individual and different. Our scientifically validated content is translated into everyday language to help parents and carers make decisions that work for them in their individual family circumstances.

As Australia’s leading authority on breastfeeding, we support, educate and advocate for a breastfeeding inclusive society.

Kids Health Info fact sheets are useful for:

• Learning about or increasing your understanding of your or your child’s medical condition.
• Learning about or increasing your understanding of your or your child’s treatment.
• Providing a starting point for further questions that you might like to ask your or your child’s doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional.

The Community Asthma Program (CAP) provides asthma education and support for children (under 18) with asthma or Ventolin responsive wheeze.

The National Immunisation Program (NIP) Schedule is a series of immunisations given at specific times throughout your life. The immunisations range from birth through to adulthood. If you stay on track with your immunisation schedule, the vaccines are free under the NIP.

HealthPathways Melbourne provides clinicians with a single website to access clinical and referral pathways, and resources. Pathways are created by local GPs, working in partnership with specialists, nurses, allied health and other health professionals.

Mercy Health recommends clinicians to access HealthPathways Melbourne for guidance in assessing, managing and referring for patient conditions (login required).

Referrals to outpatient clinics at Mercy Health will be triaged against clinical information and investigations based on these guidelines.

Referrals that do not meet the required clinical information and investigations will not be accepted.

HealthPathways Melbourne is available for free to health professionals working in the North Western Melbourne and Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network catchments.

Email HealthPathways to request access or if you need to confirm your username and password.

HealthLink is a secure digital platform for sending referrals directly from your GP practice software (Best Practice, Genie, Medical Director and MedTech Evolution).

Practices without conformant software can register for a free HealthLink Portal licence by completing the online registration form and noting in the comments/message field that you would like to use the SmartForms, then selecting the two checkboxes – (1) Receive Electronic Correspondence (free of charge) and (3) Send Electronic Smart Forms (My Aged Care, Transport for NSW, Monash Health etc).

Once HealthLink receives your completed registration application, this will be processed and the portal details will be forwarded to you.

eReferral Support Contact Information

• For GPs in the Eastern Melbourne Primary Healthcare Network region wanting to enable eReferrals (HealthLink Smartforms), please contact [email protected]or if urgent (03) 9046 0300.
• For GPs in the North Western Melbourne Primary Healthcare Network region wanting to enable eReferrals (HealthLink Smartforms), please contact HealthLink via phone: 1800 125 036 or email [email protected]
• For issues with HealthLink SmartForms, or to have this solution enabled within your clinical software system, please contact HealthLink on 1800 125 036 or [email protected].

The Department of Health and Human Services has developed statewide referral criteria to assist GPs and clinicians referring patients to specialist clinics. These referral criteria have been developed to improve access to specialist clinics in public hospitals by improving the quality and appropriateness of referrals.