{"id":1695,"date":"2022-01-26T15:23:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T15:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/Resources\/referrals\/"},"modified":"2022-07-20T14:25:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T13:25:24","slug":"referrals","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/Resources\/referrals\/","title":{"rendered":"Referrals"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Referrals<\/h1>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do we mean by referrals?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A referral is when your GP wants the help of a specialist to decide how best to treat you. Specialists can carry out tests and investigations that we cannot do in practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Doctor will discuss the reasons for referring you and if you are happy to be referred, they will get in touch with the relevant specialists.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Booking your specialist appointment<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In most cases, you will be able to choose which hospital you want to be seen at and which consultant you wish to see you. You can only select from hospitals and consultants that offer the service the GP is referring you for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can read more about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/nhs-services\/hospitals\/book-an-appointment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hospital choice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/nhs-services\/hospitals\/about-nhs-hospital-services\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">consultant choice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the NHS website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on the specialist service and the hospital, there can be different ways to book an appointment.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may be able to book your appointment through the practice when you are here.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The GP may give you an appointment request letter with details to book it yourself online or over the phone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hospital may write to you with a proposed time and date, which you can confirm with them directly.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can I ask to be referred or refer myself?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You are entitled to ask to be referred to a specialist service, but the GP will only do so if they think it is clinically necessary. Even a referral to a private specialist would need a referral letter from your GP, as they hold your health records and have the best understanding of your medical history and needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are some NHS services that you can refer yourself to without needing to see a GP first. They include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Accident &amp; Emergency. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/service-search\/other-services\/Accident-and-emergency-services\/LocationSearch\/428\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find your nearest A&amp;E.<\/span><\/a> <b>You should only ever go to A&amp;E if it is a life-threatening emergency.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mental health services like counselling. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/service-search\/find-a-psychological-therapies-service\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find an NHS psychological therapies service.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sexual health services. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/service-search\/sexual-health\/find-a-sexual-health-clinic\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find an NHS sexual health clinic.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tims.nhs.uk\/\">Tyneside Integrated Musculoskeletal Services (TIMS)<\/a> is a joint Newcastle and Gateshead service that offers self-care and fast access to expert opinion, diagnosis and treatment of a variety of muscle, joint and soft tissue conditions and chronic pain.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oviva.com\/uk\/en\/programme\/tier-2-weight-management\/\">Oviva Tier 2 Weight Management<\/a> is a free service to help people in Newcastle lose weight and build healthy habits through specialist support over 12 weeks.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some other services provided by our Primary Care Network colleagues.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Referrals What do we mean by referrals? A referral is when your GP wants the help of a specialist to decide how best to treat you. Specialists can carry out tests and investigations that we cannot do in practice. The Doctor will discuss the reasons for referring you and if you are happy to be &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/Resources\/referrals\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1863,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"resourcetype":[318],"resourcecategory":[315],"class_list":["post-1695","resources","type-resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resourcetype-how-to","resourcecategory-nhs-services"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 12:19:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"resourcetype","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/1695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resources"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1695"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/1695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2667,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/1695\/revisions\/2667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"resourcetype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resourcetype?post=1695"},{"taxonomy":"resourcecategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfirstgp.com\/base-gp-practice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resourcecategory?post=1695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}