About us

We operate one of the largest specialist clinic services in Victoria.

We support over 54 medical and surgical units, including three statewide services:

• Liver Transplant Unit
• Victorian Spinal Cord Service (VSCS)
• Victorian Respiratory Support Service (VRSS)

Every year, Specialist Clinics manages more than 315,000 outpatient clinic attendances, processes 120,000 new referrals, and answers 190,000 phone calls from patients.

What are specialist clinics?

Specialist clinics provide planned, non-admitted services for people who need the focus of an acute setting to ensure the best outcomes. Specialist clinics provide an interface between primary care services and acute inpatient services, with access to:

• medical, nursing and allied health professionals for assessment, diagnosis and treatment
• ongoing specialist management of chronic and complex conditions in collaboration with community providers
• pre- and post-hospital care
• related diagnostic services such as pathology and imaging.

Patients are referred to specialist clinics by GPs, specialists, and other community-based healthcare providers, as well as clinicians in emergency departments, inpatient units and other areas of the health service.

Waiting times

We continue to work with our medical and surgical units to reduce your wait for a clinic appointment.

The Department of Health and Human Services sets the requirement that we see all 'urgent' referrals within 30 days.

Our ability to see patients who are categorised as 'routine' is more variable depending on the demand for our services.  Patients categorised as routine are seen in turn after urgent and semi-urgent patients are seen.

Our services

We provide the following services:

• Managing the clinic schedule
• Making, changing and cancelling appointments
• Answering phone calls from patients
• Coordinating appointments and tests

Coordinate appointments and tests

Patients often need scans, tests or procedures (such as blood tests or x-rays) prior to their Specialist Clinics appointment.

Some patients also need to attend more than one Specialist Clinics appointment. 

Making all these arrangements yourself can be overwhelming for some people, so we can help you coordinate your appointments and test or procedures.

If you need help to coordinate your appointments, contact us.

Related information

• Making appointments

  Find out how we book appointments for you and how you can make an appointment for yourself.

• Changing or cancelling appointments

  Let us know if you can't show

• Attending appointments

  We know that attending an appointment for the first time can be overwhelming, given we operate across five different locations.

Clinic schedule

Every day, different clinics operate in different locations.

Clinics are located at five locations across two sites:

Austin Hospital

• Clinics 1 to 5, Level 3, Lance Townsend Building
• Clinic 6, Level 3, ONJ Cancer Wellness & Research Centre

Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital

• Clinics A to E, Ground Floor, Tobruk Building
• Clinic 2 East, Level 2, Centaur Building (Endocrinology)
• Clinic 4 East (Green), Level 4, Centaur Building
• Clinic 4 East (Orange), Level 4, Centaur Building

The location of your clinic appointment is written on your appointment letter.

Related services

• Aboriginal health program

  We support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and their family while using hospital services.

• Accommodation and travel assistance

  We have many nearby accommodation options for patients and visitors. Country or interstate patients may also be eligible for government travel and accommodation reimbursements.

• Do you need an interpreter?

  We provide free interpreters for our patients.