Referrals

Once you have seen a Doctor within the practice, should further investigations be required the Doctor will refer you to the appropriate service within the NHS. 

The Doctor will request the secretaries prepare the referral which can take up to five days, however if the referral is of urgent nature the request will be escalated.  The referral once approved by the Doctor will be sent to the CRS (Central Referral System). 

Part of the process for the CRS is to review the referral to ensure it is being sent to the correct service within the NHS and that sufficient detail has been applied to the referral.

At this point, the CRS are then responsible for contacting the patient directly either by phone or letter. Patients have a choice of which hospital they would like to attend for their appointment and usually offered a choice of dates. You are able to change your appointment on two occasions, any other changes or "Did not attend" will mean you will be discharged and a new referral has to be made. Please be mindful of the NHS costs associated with you having to be re-referred. 

Once your referral has been relayed to the CRS the practice has no way of knowing how long it will be before you are contacted.

Patients can contact the CRS directly after 5 workings day of seeing the doctor. Patients can then discuss directly the progress of their referral. 

CRS patient contact number:   0300 123 0771

Medical Secretaries

Telephone Number: 01376 347100 Option 6

The Secretarial team are available from 8.30am until 4.30pm.