How to refer

We aim to make referring your patients to Homerton as easy as possible. Please use the e-Referrals Service (e-RS) to do this whenever it is available. 

e-RS is a simple and integrated booking service that covers the majority of Homerton services. This not only simplifies the process for yourselves, but it offers your patients a confirmed appointment at the time of referral and reduces the waiting times compared to other referral methods.

We are contractually obligated to only accept referrals via e-RS (except where an exclusion applies as per below), referrals not sent through eRS will be rejected back to the GP surgery and we will request the patient is re-referred via e-RS.

The practice will be sent an email, and this will be followed up with a telephone call in these instances. This includes Urgent Suspected Cancer services. 

If you need any help finding a service or have any queries/feedback on the system, please use the following contacts:

Tel: 020 8510 5261
Email: huh-tr.centralbookingsreferrals@nhs.net

Guidance for GPs and primary care on making clear referrals to reduce admin burden, rejections, and delays for patients and improve advice and guidance communications with secondary care.

Clear and effective referrals

You should:

• use the conversation box and include a specific clinical question when requesting advice
• include all relevant clinical information, history, examination findings and current treatment
• attach investigations and tests before submitting referral; we cannot always access investigations performed outside the organisation
• upload any attachments in PDF format when possible
• name the referral attachment as clear as possible, for example: ‘ENT Referral letter’ to enable the clinicians to find the referral quickly
• let us know if the patient has additional needs that need a specific appointment type (such as a deaf patient that needs a face-to-face appointments, or a patient that needs an interpreter)
• include the Pan-London form for urgent suspected cancer referrals and let the patient know it is a suspected cancer referral

Avoid the common causes of referral rejection by:

• selecting the correct service and confirming via the Directory of Services (DoS) that Homerton provides the service
• enabling the option to convert to referral
• not using the Advice and Guidance for waiting list queries and sending these questions to the service's administration team instead

Guidance for secondary care clinicians on responding to, accepting, rejecting, and redirecting referrals. Use this guidance to improve advice and refer communications with GPs, reduce unnecessary back-and-forth between you and the GP, and reduce delays for patients. 

Clear and actionable responses to GPs

You should:

• be clear on the next steps required from the GP
• convert advice and guidance to a referral when appropriate
• check attached test results and results available on PACS or HIE before asking for results or tests from the GP
• be professional and supportive in your communications

Accepting referrals

Give clear booking instructions and use the name of the clinic on EPR. For example - 'Please book into any ENT telephone clinic' and 'Book into the next available foot/ankle clinic at SLG'.

Avoid generic instructions like 'book into Tuesday clinic'. 

Rejecting referrals

Be clear on the reason for rejection and give clear next steps. For example - 'This service is not available at Homerton. Please refer to another Trust'.

Redirecting referrals

If the referral is in the wrong clinic, accept the referral and ask our admin to team to book into the appropriate clinic or service. Don't send the referral back to the GP if it can be redirected. 

Ask for clarification

If the patient has a booked appointment in the same speciality at a different Trust, query with the referral and ask for the reason. It may be patient choice. 

If the patient is under the care of their local community team or another Trust outside of City and Hackney, query if the referral is for the most appropriate clinic as the patient may prefer continuity of care form their existing care teams. However, it might be due to patient choice or for a second opinion. 

What GPs can see in advice conversations

GPs can only see communications in the eRS text box, not the embedded documents, and once a referral has been accepted, GPs no longer get alerts for communications on eRS.