Getting a Referral

What is a referral?

A referral is the process that happens when your doctor or nurse feels that you would benefit from a specialist opinion or service. A referral will usually be made after you have consulted a doctor or nurse, however, there are some services that patients can self-refer to.

There are several different areas to we can refer to.

Primary and Community care referrals

This is when you’re referred to a community based service. Examples include the community diabetic team, district nurses or the community child development team.

Secondary care referrals

This is when you’re referred to hospital.

Emergency referral

If the clinician feels that your problem is urgent, you’ll be referred to the 2WW (Two-Week Wait) Team. These teams aim to review patients within two weeks.

Private referral

This is when you choose to be seen outside of the NHS. These services will either be charged directly to you or be part of your private health insurance plan.

How do we refer patients?

Where possible, we use the National ‘E-Referral’ system, which is a digital based system linking up your GP Surgery to hospitals and other providers of services. This system gives you more choice and flexibility when you’re being referred for further care. We aim to select the nearest services with the shortest waiting times where possible.

With this system, you can now:

choose from a list of hospitals that offer the service you need
book your own appointment

Most NHS services now use the ‘E-Referral’ system. However, not all services are available on the ‘E-Referral’ system.

Please note, that many services will only accept patients that are within out local CCG and will not see patients that are out of area.

E-Referrals

Once the clinician has referred you, we will contact you to inform you and it will be posted out to your address.

Your document will contain your:

Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN)
Choice of Hospitals
Contact Numbers for booking your appointment
Password

You’ll need all of these details to:

book your appointment
check an appointment at a later date
cancel or rearrange your appointment

Next you’ll need to choose which hospital you’d like to attend, from the list you were given. You can do this online, or by clicking here.

Occasionally E-referrals may have to be ‘deferred to the provider’ or sent for triage before the hospital will accept your referral, due to a lack of appointments.

If this happens the hospital or clinic you have been referred to will contact you directly with an appointment.

Changing and cancelling appointments

If you want to change or cancel your manual appointment then you’ll need to call the service provider’s appointment department or E-referral department. Their phone number will be on the letter you receive. We are unable to change or cancel your appointments with the hospital.

Private Referrals

If you are requesting a private referral you can book an appointment directly with the private health provider of your choice. Please note that if you have private health insurance you may need to check with them first to see if they have an approved list of private consultants or hospitals.

Once the doctor has agreed that you require an onwards referral at your GP consultation, you will need to contact the service provider of your choice or your private health provider to make an appointment. The secretary will prepare a referral letter to your chosen consultant and contact you when your referral letter is ready to collect.

Self-Referrals

Self referrals do not require a GP appointment or one of the above referral processes to be seen by a specialist service.

Please make sure that you have updated your address and contact details with the practice prior to completing the self-referral. If the information you enter during the referral process does not match the information we hold on file for you the referral cannot be processed.

Please see below for details of the services that accept self-referrals.

Antenatal/Midwife Referrals – if you find out you are pregnant then you can refer yourself directly to one of the local maternity units and community midwife team without seeing a GP. Please click here to start the referral process.

Please note that if you experience any pain, bleeding or excessive vomiting before you have been contacted by a midwife you should contact the practice to speak to a GP for advice.

BPAS (Abortion clinic, information, advice and treatment) – if you find out you are pregnant and are unsure if you would like to continue with the pregnancy you can contact BPAS for confidential advice and treatment. The costs of the majority of abortions provided by BPAS are covered by the NHS. You can contact BPAS by calling 03457 30 40 30 or you can visit their website by clicking here.

Citizens Advice Newham – if you need advice and support on non-medical matters such as housing or benefits, CAB provide free, confidential and impartial advice. You can call 020 3855 4472 or you can visit their website by clicking here .

MITHN – Newham Bereavement Service – if you have suffered a bereavement and feel that you need more help and support you can self-refer to CRUSE, a specialist bereavement charity, who offer free of charge face to face, telephone and email support. You can call 020 7510 1081 / 020 7510 4268 or you can visit their website by clicking here.

Newham Talking Therapies (Mental Health Services) – if you are suffering from stress and anxiety, low confidence or self-esteem or low mood and depression you can self-refer to the Talking Therapies Team. Please call 020 8475 8080 or visit the Newham Talking Therapies website by clicking here to complete a self referral.

All East Newham (Sexual Health and Contraception Services) – if you require sexual health testing or are thinking of getting a contraceptive coil or implant you can self-refer into the All East service. You can book an appointment with them by clicking here to visit their website.

Hospital Specialty Approximate Waiting Times

Please see a list of clinics below for average routine waiting times for first outpatient appointments as of April 2022 as per https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk/london/

The information below relates to all patients on an elective waiting list. Waiting time information is not applicable for patients on a cancer pathway.

Please note that these are the current indicative wait times and you may be seen sooner or may have to wait longer than these times.

Barts Health NHS Trust

Cardiology – 15 weeks from the date of referral
Dermatology – No current information
ENT – 60 weeks from the date of referral
Gynaecology – 52 weeks from the date of referral
Orthopaedics - 39 weeks from the date of referral
Pain Management – 32 weeks from the date of referral
Neurology – 15 weeks from the date of referral
Respiratory – 4 weeks from the date of referral
Urology – 27 weeks from the date of the referral
Vascular – 79 weeks from the date of referral

Homerton University Hospital

Cardiology – No current information
Dermatology – No current information
ENT – 15 weeks from the date of referral
Gastroenterology – No current information
General Surgery – 14 weeks from the date of referral
Gynaecology – 16 weeks from the date of referral
Neurology - No current information
Orthopaedics – 28 weeks from the date of referral
Paedicatrics - No current information
Pain Management - 28 weeks from the date of referral
Urology - 13 weeks from the date of referral

Guys and St Thomas

Cardiology – 18 weeks from the date of referral
Colorectal – 26 weeks from the date of referral
Dermatology – 12 weeks from the date of referral
ENT – 27 weeks from the date of referral
Gastroenterology – 25 weeks from the date of referral
General Surgery – 22 weeks from the date of referral
Gynaecology – 34 weeks from the date of referral
Haematology – 16 weeks from the date of referral
Neurology – 69 weeks from the date of referral
Orthopaedics – 27 weeks from the date of referral
Paediatrics – 14 weeks from the date of referral
Pain Management – 16 weeks from the date of referral
Respiratory – 7 weeks from the date of referral
Rheumatology - No current information
Spinal Team – 36 weeks from the date of referral
Urology - 18 weeks from the date of referral
Vascular – 33 weeks from the date of referral

Kings Hospital London

Cardiology – 16 weeks from the date of referral
Colorectal – 18 weeks from the date of referral
Dermatology – 14 weeks from the date of referral
ENT – 24 weeks from the date of referral
Gastroenterology – 8 weeks from the date of referral
General Surgery – 44 weeks from the date of referral
Gynaecology – 18 weeks from the date of referral
Neurology – 17 weeks from the date of referral
Orthopaedics – 24 weeks from the date of referral
Paediatrics – 21 weeks from the date of referral
Pain Management – 14 weeks from the date of referral
Respiratory – 4 weeks from the date of referral
Rheumatology - 11 weeks from the date of referral
Urology - 16 weeks from the date of referral
Vascular – 28 weeks from the date of referral

University College London Hospitals

Cardiology – 8 weeks from the date of referral
Colorectal – 41 weeks from the date of referral
Dermatology – 9 weeks from the date of referral
ENT – 32 weeks from the date of referral
Gastroenterology – 19 weeks from the date of referral
General Surgery – 105 weeks from the date of referral
Gynaecology – 35 weeks from the date of referral
Neurology – 18 weeks from the date of referral
Orthopaedics – 26 weeks from the date of referral
Paediatrics – 47 weeks from the date of referral
Pain Management – 22 weeks from the date of referral
Urology - 19 weeks from the date of referral
Vascular – 33 weeks from the date of referral