Tertiary referral hospital
A tertiary referral hospital is a large hospital that provides tertiary care, which is a level of health care obtained from specialists after referral from the providers of primary care and secondary care. Beyond that general definition, there is no precise narrower or more formal definition, but tertiary centers usually include the following:
- a major hospital that usually has a full complement of services including pediatrics, obstetrics, general medicine, gynecology, various branches of surgery and psychiatry or
- a specialty hospital dedicated to specific sub-specialty care. Patients will often be referred from smaller hospitals to a tertiary hospital for major operations, consultations with sub-specialists and when sophisticated intensive care facilities are required.
- Head and neck oncology
- Perinatology
- Neonatology
- PET scans
- Organ transplantation
- Trauma surgery
- High-dose chemotherapy for cancer cases
- Growth and puberty disorders
- Neurology and neurosurgery
- In the UK, cases of poisoning.