Background: The Specialist Community Palliative Care Allied Health team works within a multidisciplinary team of nurses and doctors. There are six different allied health disciplines including Aboriginal health. With increasing referral numbers, changes due to COVID-19 and new working from home conditions there was a recognised need for a referral form that was concise, user friendly, specific for timely triage and electronic. 

Aim: To ensure specific and relevant information is gained at point of referral to improve triage and timely access to specialist palliative care allied health services. 

Method: Survey undertaken for feedback from the wider palliative care team. Each discipline worked to create key questions with the aim to improve information gathering and triage. Mandatory referrals were identified for social work and the senior aboriginal health worker to ensure early access and supportive care. The referral form was aligned with the nationally used palliative care PCOC assessment tools. The format was specifically designed to be user friendly with comment and tick box sections. 

Discussion/results: The referral form has undergone multiple reviews and revisions. The referral form is used for six allied health disciplines across community palliative care in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven District. Referrals are received electronically via a generic email address allowing access to referrals in a timely manner that is not impacted by working from home. Urgent palliative care assessment needs are highlighted on the form allowing triage to be completed effectively. Early referrals are identified and actioned for high need clients through mandatory referral reasons.