The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) has released updated CDAMS (Cognitive, Dementia and Memory Service) referral criteria on HealthPathways and the RMH website, as part of the CDAMS Improvement Project.
These updates aim to improve referral quality, reduce delays, and ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate service as efficiently as possible.
Why the change?
The CDAMS Improvement Project is focused on reducing episode length and improving the patient journey.
A review of referral activity in 2024–2025 identified key challenges:
- Only 45% of referrals were accepted
- Common reasons for non-acceptance included:
- Referrals outside of catchment
- Patients being medically unstable
- Incomplete or inappropriate referrals can delay care, requiring additional follow-up and extending wait times for patients.
What’s new?
The updated referral criteria provide clearer and more structured guidance for referrers, including:
- Clear inclusion criteria, with defined expectations around medical and psychiatric stability
- Defined exclusion criteria to support appropriate service use
- Guidance on “grey areas”, where clinical judgement is required
- A checklist of essential information to include in referrals to enable timely triage
These updates are designed to reduce ambiguity and support referrers to submit complete, appropriate referrals from the outset.
What this means for referrers
Referrers are encouraged to:
- Review the updated criteria before submitting referrals
- Ensure patients meet eligibility requirements
- Include all key clinical information to support triage decisions.
By aligning referrals with the updated criteria, referrers can help:
- Improve referral acceptance rates
- Reduce delays in triage and allocation
- Support faster access to the right care for patients.
Access the updated criteria
The updated CDAMS referral criteria are now available on:
- HealthPathways Melbourne
- The RMH website -> Cognitive Dementia and Memory Service | The RMH
For further information or support, please contact the RMH CDAMS team.
Disclaimer: This article was provided by Royal Melbourne Hospital. While every effort has been made to ensure the information is accurate, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network does not warrant or represent the accuracy, currency and completeness of any information or material included within.
