Referrals Policy

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

Why have I been referred?

Your GP will discuss with you and, if appropriate, your carer, about why a referral is being recommended. It is usually because your GP wants a specialist’s help in deciding on the best way to treat your condition.  This might involve referring you for tests or investigations that cannot be carried out in a GP surgery. Your GP will also discuss with you what choices there are for where you can be referred.

How will I hear about where and when the appointment is?

GP practices and hospitals use different ways of arranging appointments:

We may give you a reference number and a password you can use to book, change or cancel your appointment online or by phone. Our secretary will send this across to you usually by text.

You may receive a letter from the hospital confirming your appointment. You need to reply as soon as possible and tell the hospital if you can attend on the date offered.

Alternatively, sometimes patients receive a letter asking them to phone the hospital to make an appointment with a specialist.

Unfortunately, there are instances where you may have to be placed on a waiting list for a service/investigation you have been referred too, and the management of these waiting lists are not within the remit of the  GP Surgery. Whilst we can confirm that you are indeed on a waiting list, there is not much we can do to expedite these waiting lists.

2 week wait referral

In the special circumstance, however, where we have referred you on the 2 week pathway, the aim is to ensure that you get your first appointment within the 2 weeks of the referral being made.

We kindly ask all patients who have been referred by this pathway to contact the surgery if they have not heard anything about their appointment within 1 week of the referral being made.

What happens during my appointment?

Please ensure that you prepare adequately to maximise your time with the specialist. You may want to write down all your concerns and questions regarding your ailment and possible treatment. We recommend  that you take a notepad along with you to write down things so you don’t forget.

Investigations requested by hospital/specialist doctors (including scans, blood tests, X-rays etc.)

Where an investigation has been requested by a specialist doctor from the hospital, they are responsible for following it up and will usually offer the patient a follow up appointment. As we are not specialist doctors,  it will not be appropriate for us to offer explanation or management of an investigation requested by a specialist doctor, so please don’t ask us regarding this. Therefore we kindly request you await your follow up  with the specialist doctor who requested the investigations.