Our Patient Transfer Service for routine Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) and Medial Patellar Luxation (MPL) cases is the next step in collaborative patient care.
Patient Transfer bridges the gap between mobile surgery and external referral, representing an excellent option for both your practice and your clients.
The Patient Transfer Service works by our team transporting the patient from your practice to MASH for their scheduled surgery. The patient benefits from specialist level facilities and perioperative care as well as overnight monitoring, providing gold standard care and peace of mind for the pet owner before being transferred back to your practice the following day for discharge.
- Safe Patient Transfers: Our specially commissioned canine patient transport vehicle ensures a safe and comfortable transfer of all patients, providing peace of mind for both you and the pet owners.
- Full Liability Coverage: Melbourne Animal Specialist Hospital assumes full liability while the patient is in our care, including during all transfers. Our service is fully insured, offering complete protection.
- Comprehensive Communication: We maintain constant communication with the pet owner throughout the process. This includes confirmation of safe arrival, updates from the surgeon immediately after the procedure, and continuous updates during the hospital stay.
- Gold Standard Care: Our service includes all transfers, anaesthesia, surgery, immediate post-op radiographs and overnight care/monitoring, ensuring the highest standard of care for your patients.
- Timely Documentation: We provide written discharge notes and a referral report without delay, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition back to your practice for continued care.”
Patient Transfer Booking Requirements:
To ensure we can provide you and your client a smooth service, please see the key points for using our patient transfer service:
Is the patient a good candidate?
- Our Patient Transfer Service is for routine cases of cranial cruciate ligament disease or medial patella luxation only, where a firm diagnosis has been made.
- Systemically healthy patients only. This means no other health conditions such as ear infections, hyperadrenocorticism, cardiac disease, etc. – These cases can still be referred to MASH as a normal external referral.
- No aggressive patients. We are happy to see these patients as external referrals, but for the safety of our team we cannot transport them.
Checklist for Referring Vets:
- Patients aged 8+ years:
- Pre-GA blood work completed within 2 months
- Results discussed with the owner
- Radiographs: Straight medio-lateral & caudo-cranial images of the entire tibia including both the stifle and hock, with a metallic marker of known size in each image. This is required for surgical planning.