Conditions seen
Barwon Health offers an Infectious Diseases service for the following conditions:
- Infection or suspected infection requiring specialist input.
Conditions not seen
Barwon Health Infectious Diseases does not accept referrals for the following conditions:
- Long COVID
- Chronic Fatigue
- Delusional Parasitosis
- Travel advice
- During Pregnancy (see Obstetrics Clinic)
How do I access this service
To be seen in the Infectious Diseases specialist clinic you need to be referred by your GP, another specialist doctor or your Barwon Health doctor.
We are unable to see you in our clinics without a referral.
Wait time
All requests for specialist clinic appointments are scheduled according to the patient’s clinical need. Clinicians assess whether an appointment is urgent or routine, based on information provided in the referral.
Barwon Health aims to see all ‘urgent’ referrals within 30 days. Our wait times for patients who are categorised as ‘routine’ are more variable, depending on the demand for our services.
The Victorian Agency for Health Information also publishes information about the waiting time for routine first appointments.
Routine first appointments | Victorian Agency for Health Information
No Wait times to show
For Health Professionals
State-referral criteria may apply for conditions under this specialty requiring further assessment and management. Referring clinicians are encouraged to utilise Western Victoria Community HealthPathways for referral guidelines and requirements for all conditions.
For urgent referral advice, please contact the specialty on-call registrar via Barwon Health switchboard on 03 4215 0000.
Complete the specialist clinics referral template and send via:
- ReferralNet
- Fax: 03 4215 1383
Referral templates for Barwon Health services are available for importing into Best Practice, Medical Director or ZedMed. Please see the Referral templates page for the most up-to-date forms.
If you do not use the above clinical software, please complete a referral letter on your practice/health service letterhead, ensuring all required referral information is included.
If you need to contact us regarding the templates, please contact the GP Liaison Unit on 03 4215 8845 or [email protected].
For patients who require reassessment, a new referral should be sent through. To facilitate earlier access, the new referral must contain the following information:
- State the referral is an update for a current patient
- Date of original referral
- Reason for requesting a review of referral (e.g. deterioration in clinical condition, pathology)
The referrer will be notified of the outcome of the re-triage process.
GPs or referring doctors wishing to discuss the triage of their patient’s referral, or who require additional information, please ring the GP hotline on 03 4215 1398.
Page last updated: September 8, 2025