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Women's Health

Referral Acceptance

Gynaecology Services in the Bay of Plenty include secondary level care for inpatients and outpatients at both Tauranga and Whakatane Hospitals. Tertiary level gynaecology care is provided by Waikato Hospital, through a referral from a Bay of Plenty based specialist.

Referrals are prioritised by Senior Medical Officers based on the information contained within. Additional information should be attached where available. The priorisation tool used to grade referrals can be found below.

All accepted referrals will be seen within a maximum waiting time of 4 months, unless there is a clinical reason for delay.

First Specialist Assessments
Priority 1 Accepted
Priority 2 Accepted
Priority 3 Declined
Priority 4 Declined

Surgery acceptance is as follows:

Treatment List  
Gynae CPAC 20+ Accepted

Note: Access criteria that determine prioritisation primarily on the referral diagnosis have their limitations and this is acknowledged.  For those referrals in which the referring doctor has not been able to make a confident diagnosis it may be difficult, or impossible, to apply these ACA criteria.  It is therefore stressed that these are guidelines only and that clinical judgement must be applied in all cases in which they are used.

National Access Criteria for First Assessment (ACA)

Bay of Plenty Variation (Jan 2017)
Category Criteria

 1.Immediate

(within 14 days)

  • High Suspicion of Cancer , as per April 2016 FCT Data Definitions
  • Miscarriage
  • Severe functional disturbance

2. Urgent

(within 4 weeks)

  • Major functional disturbance
    • Pain requiring narcotic or high levels of analgesia

 3. Semi Urgent

(Not accepted)

  • Moderate functional disturbance
    • Severe anaemia
    • Chronic PID
    • Fertility
    • Menorrhagia
    • Vulval abnormalities

4. Routine

(Not accepted)

  • Minor functional disturbance
    • Fertility
    • Endocrine Dysfunction
    • Gynaecological disorders with limited functional impairment
    • Congenital abnormalities

*"Clinical Priority” criteria are a guide rather than exhaustive, complete or exclusory.