If you are worried about your condition or feeling worse after leaving the hospital, you can contact your GP (during business hours). If it is an emergency, please call 000 or visit the Emergency Department. This document should not replace the advice of your relevant health care professional.

Checking your GP details before you leave

Please check your GP details are correctly recorded in our system before you leave. This helps to ensure that important medical information is sent to your GP in a timely manner. Please speak with the ward receptionist if you are unsure.

Where can I get more information after leaving the hospital?

During your hospital stay, you may be provided with written information about your ongoing care needs. This may include important information such as your:

• follow-up appointments
• referrals to other services
• medical discharge summary
• other documents as relevant

Sometimes, this information is not always ready when you are leaving the hospital.

This may be because the appointment details have not yet been confirmed, or the doctor might not have finished writing your discharge summary to send to your GP.

Once you are back home, there are a few different ways to get this information. We have provided further details below on how to access this information if you did not receive it.

Discharge summaries

Ideally you will be provided with a copy of your medical discharge summary when you leave hospital. If it is not available, please see the information about how you can get a copy below.

• A copy of your discharge summary will be uploaded to My Health Record – go to myGov and sign in, then go to the Initiatives Tab and click on My Health Record to access your information
• Contact your GP to request a copy of the discharge summary – your GP should receive this once your treating hospital doctor has completed it (generally within 48 hours of your discharge)
• Your GP can also fill in an electronic form to request a copy of your discharge summary / other medical information. The form is available for GPs to complete via the Austin Health website under the Referrals tab.
• If you were not provided with a discharge summary when you left the hospital, and you cannot locate your summary via My Health Record, you can email our Freedom of Information (FOI) team for assistance via foi@austin.org.au. A copy of your discharge summary will then be forwarded to your email address within 5 business days.
  
  If you require additional information, such as your admission/operation notes etc, you will need to submit a formal FOI Request. Fees and charges may apply. Please visit our Freedom of information page for more information or contact our FOI team to discuss your request by calling 03 9496 3103.

Follow up appointments

If you need to attend a follow up appointment with a doctor, we will try to arrange your appointment before you leave the hospital. If we can't, we'll send you a letter with further details about how to organise your appointment.

If the doctor refers you to see a different group of medical specialists, there might be a wait before you can get an appointment. The waiting time depends on how urgent your situation is and how many other people are also waiting to see those doctors.

If you have any questions about your follow-up appointments or you have not received an appointment letter, you can contact Specialist Clinics.

Medicines information

If you have been prescribed any medicine by your doctor, you may receive a Patient Friendly Medicines List when you leave the hospital. This list will show what medicines you are currently taking and any changes that have been made to your medicines during your hospital stay.

This could include new medicines, changes to your medicines, or medicines that you have stopped taking.

• The Patient Friendly Medicines List is helpful to refer to when managing your medicines at home. Others who assist you with your medicines may also find it helpful to read. It is important to check if changes have been made to your medicines while you have been in hospital.
• The Patient Friendly Medicines List is also available via your My Health Record:
  
  My Health Record – go to myGov and login to access your information (referred to as "Pharmacist Shared Medicines List")
• If you did not receive a Patient Friendly Medicines List and you don’t have access to My Health Record, or if you have any other questions about your medicines, please speak with your ward nurse or the pharmacist before you leave the hospital.
• For further information about your medicines, additional resources are available via the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).

Test results

• If you had any tests while you were in the hospital, and have not received the results, please contact your regular doctor (GP). They may be able to tell you when the results will become available.
• All results need to be interpreted by a doctor and discussed with you. We recommend you discuss any results at your next GP or specialist appointment.
• Your results will also be available to access via My Health Record when available.
• For Pathology results, your GP can call Austin Pathology on 03 9496 3100.
• For other results, your GP can make a medical request to Health Information Services (HIS). Your GP can fill in an electronic form to request a copy of your test results.
• The form is available for GPs to complete via the accessing patient information page.

Pathology request slips

• Your medical team may provide a paper request slip for blood or urine tests to be performed as part of your follow up and monitoring.
• Before you attend for your test, please check carefully if there are any special test requirements you need to complete. For example, fasting blood tests or tests that require collecting equipment, such as 24-hour urine collections.
• You can have these tests performed at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg or at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital:
  
  Austin Hospital: Harold Stokes Building, Level 3 Pathology Collection Centre
  
  Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital: Ground Floor, Tobruk Building, 190 Banksia Street, Ivanhoe (Gate 10 for parking)
• Alternatively, there may be an Austin Pathology collection centre closer to your home – you can view the locations and opening hours via the Austin Health Pathology website.
• For additional information when preparing for your pathology testing, please refer to the patient information on the Austin Health Pathology website.

Patient information brochures

You may be given written information brochures by the staff looking after you, such as information about your diet or equipment you need to take home. These brochures may provide important information about your condition or your care needs.

If you have any questions about the information included in these brochures, please contact the staff member or department via the phone number listed on the back page of the brochure.

Providing general feedback

We welcome your feedback about your experience and the care you received while you were in hospital. There are lots of different ways to provide this feedback. 

Download as a fact sheet

You can also download the information from this page as a fact sheet.

Ticks

Ticks attach themselves to humans or any warm-blooded animal in order to feed on the blood of their victim. They do not bite and leave; they remain attached until they are engorged with blood and are many times the size they were when they attached. Ticks will often detach themselves after 4 days.

Ticks can cause a range of illnesses. Some ticks found in the eastern parts of Australia can cause paralysis. All ticks can transmit infectious diseases and can cause infection of the bite site. Some people are allergic to ticks.

Where ticks are found

Ticks live in foliage such as long grass and attach themselves to warm-blooded animals as they brush against the foliage.

How to remove a tick

Effective removal of the whole tick is important. Use an ether-containing aerosol, eg Wart-Off Freeze Spray or Medi Freeze Skin Tag Remover, to freeze and kill the tick. It should be dead about 10 minutes after application of the aerosol. Then just brush away the remnants of the dead tick. If you are unable to remove the tick in this way, see your doctor. A thorough body check is important. Small larval ticks can be killed by applying a permethrin-containing cream, and then brushed off.

Many other tick removal techniques have been advocated over the years, but are no longer recommended. Attempting to remove a tick with forceps or tweezers can sometimes result in the tick’s head or mouthpiece remaining embedded in the host; these can be difficult to remove. The more a tick is handled, the greater the amount of toxin it will release. Holding a flame or hot match to the tick is also no longer recommended because of the risk of burning the host, and an agitated tick will release more toxin into the host.

First aid

After the tick has been killed and removed, wash the area and apply antiseptic and a bandaid or dressing

After removal, most tick bites resolve without problems. Seek medical attention:

•  If there is any local rash or swelling
•  If the area does not clear up
•  If any signs of infection or tissue damage occur
•  If you experience any symptoms such as feeling weak, unsteady on your feet, unusually sleepy, double vision, having difficulty breathing or swallowing or if any night sweats or fever develop. You may have an allergic reaction if bitten by a tick in the future. Rarely, people may develop an allergy to red meat products after being sensitised by a tick bite.