This site contains the South Australian Clinical Prioritisation Criteria (CPC) for most frequently referred rheumatology conditions.

Rheumatology conditions

Please note this is not an exhaustive list of all conditions for outpatient services and does not exclude consideration for referral unless specifically stipulated in the rheumatology exclusions section.

Out of scope

Not all medical conditions are covered by the CPC, as certain conditions may be considered out of scope or managed by other specialist services:

  • Metabolic bone disease – refer to endocrine
  • Chronic pain
  • Hypermobility syndromes
  • Children under 18 years with chronic pain (persisting for >3months) without evidence of arthritis should be referred to the Chronic Pain Service
  • Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) – refer to general paediatrics

Exclusions for public specialist outpatient services

Not all rheumatology conditions are appropriate for referral into the South Australian public health system. The following are not routinely provided in a public specialist outpatient service:

  • Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos without joint pain
  • benign hypermobility syndrome without joint pain
  • growing pain variants including:
  • positive antinucelar antibody without signs or symptoms suggestive of autoimmune condition
  • Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)

Emergency information

See the individual condition pages for more specific emergency information.

Feedback

We welcome requests for further information or feedback on the CPC and website, please refer to the relevant form below.

Please email the completed form to Health.CPC@sa.gov.au.

Review

The Rheumatology CPC is due for review in July 2026.

Evidence statement

For a copy of the evidence statement, please email Health.CPC@sa.gov.au.