Specialist Outpatients

Scheduling an Appointment

You will be contacted as soon as an appointment becomes available with the service, you do not need to call the hospital to schedule an appointment.

When an appointment has been allocated, you will receive communication either by letter, SMS or a phone call from specialist outpatient staff. If you have a preferred method of communication, please call (03) 5320 4221 to advise.

Wait Times for Appointments

Waiting times for Specialist Outpatient Clinic services vary from specialty to specialty. Due to demand on health services in the Grampians region, there can be long waiting times. When an appointment becomes available, Specialist Outpatient Clinics will contact you with an appointment.

When your referral is accepted, you may receive an SMS or letter that stipulates a timeframe. Please note that these timeframes are only an estimate, and not an exact number of days expected before an appointment is offered. It is certain in most cases that there will be a longer waiting period for an appointment with Specialist Outpatient Clinics than anticipated.

If your condition worsens, please follow up with your GP who will provide updated information to the service about your condition. If you require urgent or immediate attention, either call the Grampians Health Ballarat Emergency Department on 5320 4275, or an ambulance on 000.

If you want to end your referral with Grampians Health and return your care to your GP please follow this link or call (03) 5320 4221 to advise.

Appointment Types

On-Site Appointments

On-Site Appointments are appointments that are attended at Ballarat Base Hospital. When attending the hospital, Specialist Outpatient Clinics may have extensive wait times during clinics, so please allow enough time to attend your appointment.

When attending an on-site appointment, please bring your Medicare/Pension/DVA cards with you to your appointment as it will be requested when you are checked in to the clinic.

Telehealth Appointments (Video conference)

Telehealth Appointments are a video call between the patient and the specialist service that are done off site, not at the hospital. This video call can be conducted on the following devices;

• Desktop Computer
• Laptop Computer
• Android Tablet
• Smartphone

For more information, instructions, and a direct link to Health Direct to attend an appointment, please visit the Telehealth page.

If you arrive at the hospital and your appointment was booked for a telehealth appointment, you will be asked to leave, we will perform your appointment by telephone or telehealth.

Telephone Appointments

Telephone Appointments are a phone call between the patient and the specialist service that are done off site, not at the hospital. The phone call will go through to the phone number that has been nominated by the patient and will be received from a “No Caller ID”.

If you arrive at the hospital and your appointment was booked for a telephone appointment, you will be asked to leave, we will perform your appointment by telephone.

Unable to Attend

If you are running late to your appointment, please contact the service on (03) 5320 4221.

If you are unable to attend your appointment, please let us know 24 hours prior to the appointment by contacting (03) 5320 4221 or go to the change or cancel my appointment page and complete the online form.

Failure to communicate with Specialist Outpatient Clinics and attend your appointment twice consecutively may cause the service to end your referral and return your care to your GP.

Multiple reschedules of appointments, or multiple failures to attend over the course of care may prompt the service to inform you that your referral will be closed if you do not attend the next date provided, and your care returned to your GP.

Transport

Ballarat Base Hospital Carpark is temporarily closed while undergoing construction until mid-2024. While the carpark is closed, a Free Park & Ride service will be available from the City Oval for visitors to the hospital.

For more information, please visit the parking page on our website.

Updating Details

Any updates to personal information are the responsibility of the patient to communicate with the hospital. If there are any changes to your details such as;

• Phone Number
• Address
• Name
• Nominated GP
• Next of Kin

Please use the following link to update your details, or call (03) 5320 4221 to advise staff of these changes.

Patient Rights

The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights outlines your rights in relation to making decisions about your treatment and care, as well as your responsibilities to ensure staff can best meet your needs.

For more information about your rights and responsibilities, please use the following link.

Other Patient Resources

Aboriginal Support Services
Carer Resources
My Health Record

Clinics

Please click the below link for detailed clinic information, where available.