Headaches

Emergency

If any of the following are present or suspected, please refer the patient to the emergency department (via ambulance if necessary) or seek emergent medical advice if in a remote region.

Brain & Nervous System

  • Headaches
    • that wake at night or headaches immediately on wakening
    • new and severe headaches
    • associated with significant persisting change of personality or cognitive ability or deterioration in school performance
    • recent head injury or head trauma
    • any abnormalities on neurological examination, such as: focal weakness, gait disturbance, papilledema, diplopia
    • sudden onset headache reaching maximum intensity within 5 minutes ( = explosive onset)
    • presence of an intracranial csf shunt
    • hypertension above 95th centile by age for systolic or diastolic
Useful Management Information
  • Refer to local care pathway
  • Neuroimaging is not usually recommended when the neurological examination is normal. MRI is a more appropriate investigation than CT if imaging is required
  • In the majority of cases it is thought inappropriate for children to wait more than 6 months for an outpatient initial appointment
  • If you have a reason to suspect a child in Queensland is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm, you need to contact Child Safety Services: https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/
Minimum Referral Criteria

Category 1
(appointment within 30 calendar days)

  • History of malignancy
  • Age < 6 years
Category 2
(appointment within 90 calendar days)
  • Headaches with initial onset within 3 months of referral
  • Missing significant amounts of school due to headaches
Category 3
(appointment within 365 calendar days)
  • Chronic headaches that have previously been assessed by a specialist

If your patient does not meet the minimum referral criteria

  • Consider other treatment pathways or an alternative diagnosis
  • If you still need to refer your patient:
    • Please explain why (e.g. warning signs or symptoms, clinical modifiers, uncertain about diagnosis, etc.)
    • Please note that your referral may not be accepted or may be redirected to another service
Standard Referral Information

Patient's Demographic Details

  • Full name (including aliases)
  • Date and country of birth
  • Residential and postal address including whether patient resides at an aged care facility
  • Telephone contact number/s – home, mobile and alternative
  • Medicare number (where eligible)
  • Name of the parent or caregiver (if appropriate)
  • Name of delegate and contact details (Department of Corrective Services)
  • Preferred language and interpreter requirements
  • Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
  • Any special needs, access requirements and/or disability relevant to the referral

Referring Practitioner Details

  • Full name
  • Full address
  • Contact details – telephone, fax, email
  • Provider number
  • Date of referral
  • Signature
  • Nominated general practitioner’s details (if known), if the nominated general practitioner is different from the referring practitioner

Relevant clinical information about the condition

  • Presenting symptoms (evolution and duration)
  • Physical findings
  • Details of previous treatment (including systemic and topical medications prescribed) including the course and outcome of the treatment
  • All conservative options that have been pursued unsuccessfully prior to referral
  • Body mass index (BMI)
  • Details of any associated medical conditions which may affect the condition or its treatment (e.g. diabetes, BMI), noting these must be stable and controlled prior to referral
  • Any special care requirements where relevant (e.g tracheostomy in place, oxygen required)
  • Current medications and dosages
  • Drug allergies
  • Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs use

Reason for request

  • To establish a diagnosis
  • For treatment or intervention
  • For advice and management
  • For specialist to take over management
  • Reassurance for GP/second opinion
  • For a specified test/investigation the GP can't order, or the patient can't afford or access
  • Reassurance for the patient/family
  • For other reason (e.g. rapidly accelerating disease progression)
  • Clinical judgement indicates a referral for specialist review is necessary

Clinical modifiers

  • Impact on employment
  • Impact on education
  • Impact on home
  • Impact on activities of daily living functioning – low/medium/high
  • Impact on ability to care for others
  • Impact on personal frailty or safety
  • Identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Other relevant information

  • Willingness to have surgery (where surgery is a likely intervention)
  • Choice to be treated as a public or private patient
  • Compensable status (e.g. DVA, Work Cover, Motor Vehicle Insurance, etc

 

Essential referral information

Without this information the referral will be rejected

  • General referral information
  • Detailed history of headaches
    • how long has the patient been getting headaches?
    • what is their frequency and duration?
  • BP (right arm, with appropriate sized cuff)
  • Report presence or absence of Red flags


Presence of Red flags

  • Change in mood, mental status or school performance since the onset of the headaches
  • Headaches usually present on waking or wake the child in the early morning

Essential referral information

Without this information the referral will be returned

  • General referral information
  • Detailed history of headaches
    • how long has the patient been getting headaches?
    • what is their frequency and duration?
  • BP (right arm, with appropriate sized cuff)
  • Report presence or absence of Red flags


Presence of Red flags

  • Change in mood, mental status or school performance since the onset of the headaches
  • Headaches usually present on waking or wake the child in the early morning
Additional Referral Information

Highly desirable Information – may change triage category

  • Exacerbating and relieving factors
  • Reason for presentation at this time
  • Details of previous specialist assessment
  • Burden of disease:
    • are there associated symptoms (vomiting, behaviour change)?
    • is the child missing school? how many days missed in the last month?
    • is the headache affecting sleep?
    • other information to assess the burden of the symptom

Desirable Information- will assist at consultation.

  • Other past medical history
  • Immunisation history
  • Developmental history
  • Medication history
  • Significant psychosocial risk factors (especially parents mental health, family violence, housing and financial stress, department of child safety involvement)
  • Height/weight/head circumference and growth charts with prior measurements if available.
  • Other physical examination findings inclusive of CNS, birth marks or dysmorphology
  • Any relevant laboratory results or medical imaging reports, urinalysis result
Clinical Override

Clinical override of referral criteria may be requested in the following situations:

  • Inability to include essential referral information. If a specific test result is unable to be obtained due to access, financial, religious, cultural or consent reasons.
  • Patient does not meet minimum referral criteria. If the patient does not meet the criteria for referral but the referring practitioner believes that the patient requires specialist review.
  • Presence of clinical modifiers. The presence of clinical modifiers (as listed above in Standard referral information) may impact on the categorisation of a patient.

Include the reason for request for clinical override as part of the referral. Referrals are reviewed by the triaging specialist who determines the most appropriate course of action.

Out of catchment

West Moreton Health is responsible for providing a public health service to people who reside within its catchment area. To appropriately manage demand for service we do not accept referrals from outside this catchment area. If your patient does live outside the West Moreton Health area and it is deemed socially or clinically necessary for their care to be received in the West Moreton Health Service, inclusion of information regarding their particular medical and/or social factors will assist with the triaging of your referral.

Feedback

To provide feedback about contents on this website or general referral questions please email WM-CPC@health.qld.gov.au or phone 3413 7402.