The Metropolitan Referral Unit (MRU) is the single point of contact for referrals into SA Community Care.

To access SA Community Care, patients must be referred to the program through the MRU.
The program is available for suitable public patients living in the Adelaide metropolitan area.

Who can refer to the Metropolitan Referral Unit?

Referrals are accepted from health care professionals including:

  • acute and sub-acute public hospital and Local Health Network (LHN) teams
  • SA Ambulance Service
  • general practitioners and practice nurses
  • residential aged care facilities
  • SA Virtual Care Service
  • Priority Care Centres and Medicare Urgent Care Clinics
  • Specialist Palliative Care teams

Referral forms

See the following information regarding the referral process and forms:

Opening times

The Metropolitan Referral Unit is open between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm, seven days a week including public holidays.

Referrals can be submitted anytime via email or fax and the overnight referrals are triaged each morning. A clinician at the MRU will access the patient’s eligibility for SA Community Care and confirm their admission or suggest more suitable alternative services.

Please note that the service is not an emergency response and usual processes for emergency care should be followed.

Navigation and links to other more suitable services and programs 

The MRU also provides navigation and links to a range of other services and programs to support immediate hospital avoidance and discharge support.

The team of clinicians in the MRU review and assess referrals to link individuals to the most appropriate service model and response to avoid hospital admission or support an early return home after a hospital presentation.

These other services and programs include: