Referrals for Further Care

Referral to Hospital by your GP

Having visited your GP, you maybe referred to hospital for further investigations and treatment. Once your referral has been received you will then be added to the hospital’s Outpatient Waiting List.

In order to ensure your visit to hospital can be facilitated please note the following:

• When you attend your G.P. please give them details of all unavailability and if you would require an interpreter to be in attendance at your appointment
• Please ensure that all contact information is up to date
• Your GP will then send an electronic referral to the hospital within your catchment area
• Referral is then processed by the Hospital
• You should be normally be appointed within 12 weeks, this maybe sooner if your Doctor has classed your referral as urgent – Please do not contact the Practice before this time to check on the progress of your referral
• You can if you wish contact the Hospital Department directly that you have been referred to, if you have any concerns
• If you still have any questions about your referral then please contact the Practice

What you can expect

When offering you an appointment, the hospital will:

• give you a minimum of 7 days notice of an offer of appointment
• inform you of the consequences of refusing a reasonable offer
• send notice of appointments by letter at least 14 days before the appointment and in a format appropriate to your needs
• tell you how long the appointment will last prior to attending
• ensure that if the Hospital breaches the Treatment Time Guarantee, you are offered the next available appointment and an explanation given as to why the guarantee was breached
• ensure that any additional needs are taken into account and support is in place when offering an appointment
• explain to you that it might not always be possible for you to be seen and treated locally and provide details of possible locations
• advise you as early as possible if you will need to travel for treatment
• If you require transport for the upcoming appointment due to mobility issues, please phone one week in advance. Please contact the Practice on 0208 548 7520 to arrange this. You will be asked a series of questions about your mobility and the location of your appointment.

I want to check the progress of my referral

If you have any questions about hospital appointments or are looking for the results of a test done at hospital, then please phone the appropriate secretary directly.

Hospital information / appointments are not always shared on to our computer system and we only get results from hospital tests that we have directly requested.