Depending on the level of acuity, options include:
– Contacting emergency services (000) and giving the address where the consult is taking place so police can do a welfare check or similar
– Contacting the Emergency contact, found in the demographics section of the patient file
– Contact the referrer (see referral in file) to alert them about the situation
– Contacting local area mental health triage or the local emergency department
Please also let the admin staff and Erin know if the above occurs and we will help in whatever way we can (eg. urgently preparing notes, contacting GP) during business hours.
In this scenario, we also suggest seeking advice from your own medical indemnity provider.
If patients contact admin and there are any concerns about their safety, our staff are instructed to provide them with crisis contact details (000, local mental health triage, or other support lines). If patients contact via email, they receive an automatic response with crisis contact information. If we receive correspondence from patients, we will endeavour to alert the clinician as soon as possible within business hours, either by email or phone.