Spinal Surgery

Spinal outpatient services comprise the following clinics, to assess and treat patients.

Spinal Surgical Clinic (SSC)

• This clinic operates from the RAH and is staffed by spinal consultants/fellows and registrars is for the management of priority cases
• Most commonly, this includes the assessment of patients who are triaged as being urgent or semi-urgent candidates for probable surgical intervention.

Spinal Assessment Clinic (SAC)

• Patients identified as warranting non-urgent consultation are allocated to the SAC
• The service currently operates from 3 sites within the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) and also delivers a suite of Telehealth services for both metro and country patients
• SAC provides assessment and surgical triage for patients with certain spinal disorders. These clinics are staffed by physiotherapists who work in an advanced practice role, with support provided by spinal surgeons as required.

Spinal Virtual Clinics

• For referrals that are not accepted following careful clinical triage, then management advice and review is offered via Virtual Clinic
• Many will be triaged as unlikely to require surgery or those with simple spinal fracture cases that can be safely managed remotely

Remotely managed process involves:

• review the GP referral and relevant radiology reports
• an assessment in the context of patient’s reported signs and symptoms, history and relevant imaging
• provision of customised clinical advice via a letter to the referring GP that may include conservative management options or appropriate surveillance imaging.

Spinal outpatient appointments

The objective of a spinal outpatient appointment is to provide an assessment of the patient, form a diagnostic opinion (which may require further imaging or investigation), and outline a management plan.

Surgical intervention is recommended in a small percentage of cases. Minor interventions, such as injection therapy, may be trialled where clinically indicated in the management of radicular or claudicant problems.

The majority of patients require education, guidance regarding appropriate conservative management approaches and then transfer back to community-based care supported by their general practitioner. Most patient consultations span over one or two visits, followed by formal discharge.

Surgical candidates may attend over a more extended period of time with necessary follow-up post spinal intervention.

Outpatient clinics are located on Level 3 (ground floor), Royal Adelaide Hospital. 

Check appointment information and screens on arrival at the RAH, for the specific location.

Consultants

• Dr Aaron Stevenson - Head of Unit
• Dr Catherine Cartwright
• Dr David Hall
• Dr Yu Chao Lee
• Dr Matthew Rackham
• Dr Meenalochani Shunmugam
• Dr David Tan.

You need a referral from a GP or medical practitioner to access this service.

Once your referral has been received it will be triaged according to clinical urgency.

If your referral is accepted, you will either:

• receive a letter, phone call or text message confirming your appointment time, date and location
• receive a letter confirming you have been waitlisted for an appointment.

If the referral is declined, your GP or referring medical practitioner will be notified.

Contact us to:

• change your appointment time
• cancel your appointment
• find out triage status
• general outpatient enquiries.

If you need to cancel or change your appointment time, let us know as soon as possible.

We accept GP and specialist referrals to this service.

eReferrals are preferred. 

Use the Clinical Prioritisation Criteria (CPC) as a referral guide. 

To ensure timely triage, include all demographic and clinical details. The Spinal outpatient referral template is mandatory for all referrals and must be returned along with standard referral information.

The service triages referrals according to clinical urgency.