Referrals are handled by our centralised registration team. Appointments are booked by individual specialities at Epsom and St Helier hospitals.
The centralised registration and referral team manages all urgent and routine referrals and excludes two week wait referrals for cancer, RACPC or fast-tract referrals which should be sent using the current fax process.
The central registration centre will aim to register all referrals other than choose and book within 24 hours of receipt of referral.
Upon receipt, referral letters will be scanned into a central database so that they are readily available to the clinician when the patient attends the clinic creating an instant electronic patient record.
Compliance of 18 week pathway, ensuring patients are given the opportunity to be treated within 18 weeks of their referral date.
Fair and equitable access, booking and choice arrangements for all appointments booked within the hospital - ensuring that appointments are booked correctly, quickly and efficiently every time.
Any referrals received by the Trust will be processed within 24 hours of receipt of referral. Referral queries can be made on 020 8296 3541 or 020 8296 3498.
If the referral is sent via Choose and Book, the patient should contact the national appointments line (0345 60 88888, 7am to 10pm daily) as detailed on their referral request letter.
If the patient has chosen Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust and has been referred to the central registration team, they should be advised to contact the individual speciality for which they have been referred to (see numbers for Epsom and St Helier) or book online via our website.
Preferably no as this can slow down the appointment booking process and risk the referral getting lost.
However, for cases where a patient needs to be seen by a named clinician as part of the 'continuity of care', or for a genuine clinical reason, we will endeavour to manage the referral appropriately.
The preferred route for all bookings is via Choose and Book, which allows the originating practice to provide any necessary support for people who might have difficulty booking an appointment.
Where this is not possible, it would be beneficial to highlight the specific needs of the patient within the body of the referral letter so that we can ensure this is dealt with accordingly.
It is essential for the central registration team to have all of the referral information in order to process referrals.
It would help us greatly if you could pass on as much contact information as possible when you make a referral, including the patient's mobile phone number and email address.
Please make sure you have the patient's permission to share this information.
Whilst the majority of referrals received do contain this information, a large number of referrals continue to have key information missing which can slow down the processing of the referral and subsequent booking of an appointment as well as using up valuable staff time.
Choose and Book
Where possible all referrals should be made using the Choose and Book system as this provides a clear audit trail for both primary and secondary care.
Central registration
For those services not available to book through Choose and Book, there is now a central registration office based at St Helier Hospital covering Epsom, Sutton, St Helier and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children as well as any hospital services at community hospitals.
All paper referrals should be sent directly to this office. The address is:
Central outpatient referral office
St Helier Hospital
Wrythe Lane
Carshalton
SM5 1AA
Telephone: 020 8296 3541 or 020 8296 3498
Fax: 020 8296 4742 (for any urgent referrals including rapid access chest pain clinic (RACPC) and stroke/TIA)
Please make your patients aware that they need to be prepared to come into the hospital for an outpatient appointment within approximately five weeks of referral and that they need to be available for any subsequent treatment that may be required following their first appointment within 18 weeks of referral.
Call reminder system
The Trust uses an automated and interactive call reminder system whereby the patient is telephoned seven days in advance of their appointment. We would be grateful for your assistance in a drive to collect home and mobile telephone numbers.
Online appointments centre
In December 2009 we launched the online appointment centre were patients and/or relatives can make, change or cancel appointments online using three simple forms. They can also add/update their mobile number to receive text reminders for their appointment.
All information is being transmitted securely to our NHSnet email address using the same technology (HTTPS security certificate) as used by online banking systems.
The online appointments centre can be accessed using this short URL:
www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/appointments
If you have any questions or queries, please contact Gordon Furtado, service manager clinical services, on 020 8296 4752 or by email at gordon.furtado@esth.nhs.uk.
