Plastic Surgery

The Plastic Surgery unit provides a 24-hour, seven day a week service for both inpatient and outpatients of Royal Perth Hospital.

The department provides a full range of plastic surgical services, including skin cancer surgery, hand surgery, breast surgery, and head and neck surgery. A large component of the department’s work is through the Emergency Department.

Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic

The Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic accepts referrals from Emergency departments and General Practitioners (GPs) of patients with:

  • closed hand and finger(s) fracture(s) with no neurovascular compromise
  • simple hand, facial and limb(s) laceration.

The Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic operates on Monday to Friday between 8.30am – 9.30am (excluding public holidays) and is located in O Block, Level 5 on Goderich Street.

For information about referrals to the Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic, please see the referral section below.
 

Plastic Surgery Telehealth Service

The department provides a telehealth service to facilitate review of remote and rural patients. This utilises video-conferencing, whilst storing and forwarding images and x-rays.

Referral to the service can be organised by emailing RPH.telehealth@health.wa.gov.au.
 

Referral information for General Practitioners

Please direct all referrals to the Central Referral Service (CRS) unless a review is required in less than seven days. Please discuss cases requiring review in less than seven days by telephoning the on-call plastic surgery registrar through the hospital switchboard and fax urgent referrals to 6477 5425.

Doctors please note discussion with the registrar is preferred to expedite acceptance of your referral and immediate management, however if you are unable to contact the registrar please fax your referral and note that you have attempted to call the registrar.

Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic referrals

For urgent referrals

  1. Please contact the Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) Plastic on-call Registrar via RPH switchboard on 9224 2244.
  2. Once your referral has been accepted by the Plastics on-call Registrar, please send your referral to RPH.OutpatientReferrals@health.wa.gov.au or fax 6477 5199.
  3. If imaging has been done, please include the name of the Imaging Provider on your referral so the Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic can contact and advise relevant imaging provider to load the images onto RPH PACS.

For non-urgent "open” injuries (e.g. tendon injury, simple lacerations, minor infection)

  1. Contact RPH Plastic on-call registrar on 9224 2244.
  2. Email your referral to RPH.OutpatientReferrals@health.wa.gov.au or fax referral to 6477 5199. If imaging has been done, please include the name of the Imaging Provider on your referral so the Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic can contact and advise relevant imaging provider to load the images onto RPH PACS.
  3. Request patient to fast from 6am and advise them to attend RPH Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic at 8.30am the next day (Monday – Friday).

For non-urgent “closed” injuries (e.g. closed fractures, no neurovascular compromise)

For referrals made on Sunday to Thursday:

  1. Email your referral to RPH.OutpatientReferrals@health.wa.gov.au or fax referral to 6477 5199. If imaging has been done, please include the name of the Imaging Provider on your referral so the Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic can contact and advise relevant imaging provider to load the images onto RPH PACS.
  2. The patient will be contacted by RPH and advised to attend the Plastic Trauma Clinic in the next two working days (Monday – Friday at 9am). Download the Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic patient brochure (PDF 850KB) for more information.

For referrals made on Friday and Saturday:

  1. Please contact RPH Plastic Registrar on-call on 9224 2244 for acceptance and advice. Patient may be advised to present to RPH Emergency Department the next day (Saturday/Sunday) at 9am for review if accepted by the RPH Plastic Registrar.
  2. If imaging has been done, please include the name of the Imaging Provider on your referral so the Plastic Surgery Trauma Clinic can contact and advise relevant imaging provider to load the images onto RPH PACS.

Excluded procedures outpatient referrals

While the WA Health Excluded Procedures precludes procedures performed for cosmetic or other non-medical reasons, procedures which meet an identified clinical need to improve the health of the patient may be undertaken in public hospitals. To avoid patients unnecessarily waiting for and attending appointments in cases where surgery cannot be offered at Royal Perth Hospital, referral criteria have been established for abdominal lipectomy, breast reduction, blepharoplasty, male circumcision, rhinoplasty and varicose veins.

Visit the referral criteria for each of the six WA Health excluded procedures page for more information.

Last Updated: 14/12/2023