Removal from the Elective Surgery Waiting List

If you have been placed on Latrobe Regional Hospital’s elective surgery waiting list for admission, you may be removed from the list at any time if you:

• Have changed your contact details and the Hospital is unable to make contact with you
• Inform the Hospital that you no longer wish to receive treatment
• Refuse a booking date for admission to the Hospital for treatment on three separate occasions without good reason
• Declare yourself unavailable for treatment at the hospital for a prolonged period of time without good reason, or
• Do not arrive at Hospital on the booking date for admission without giving prior notice to the Hospital on two separate occasions without good reason.

If you are not able to be contacted

Once placed on the Hospital’s waiting list, you have a responsibility to inform the hospital of any changes to your contact details (ie, your address and telephone number) while you remain on the waiting list.

If you fail to do so, the hospital will make a reasonable attempt to find your correct address and/or telephone number. This will include contacting either your surgeon, your referring specialist or your general practitioner. The hospital map also contact your next of kin or search for your details in the White Pages telephone directory.

If all attempts made by the hospital to contact you fail, you will be declared ‘non-contactable’ and you will be removed from the hospital waiting list.

If you decide you no longer wish to receive treatment

Once placed on a hospital’s waiting list, you have a responsibility to inform the hospital if you decide that you no longer wish to receive treatment at the hospital or at all.

Depending on your diagnosis, the hospital may contact you to ensure that you understand any clinical consequences of not having surgery.

If you are removed from the hospital’s waiting list at your own request, but your condition subsequently deteriorates or you change your mind and wish to proceed with treatment, you should contact your referring specialist or general practitioner for follow up.