Outpatient Referral Management and Booking

Submitting a Referral

Healthlink

Our preference is to receive referrals via Healthlink as the information is received immediately, the risk of a referral getting lost or overlooked is almost completely eradicated and the system does provide us with the ability to feedback to the source of referral what is happening with their patient’s referral.

Postal Referrals

Where the preferred method of receiving the referral is via Healthlink we acknowledge that not all referrers have access as yet so posting a hard copy of the referral is the alterative option.

Whereas the majority of all new outpatient referrals are managed by the Waiting List Office through the Central Appointments Team not all specialties are managed by this team. Please refer to the individual specialties for further information.

National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) Referrals

Managing a Referral

1. Referral received and patient details are added to the Patient Administration System (PAS);
2. Referral sent to relevant department for clinical triage;
3. Referral details including prioritisation (triage) are updated on PAS;
4. Patient sent a letter outlining that they have been added to the waiting list;
5. When an appointment slot becomes available the patient is contacted and asked to phone the call centre to make an appointment ^*
6. The patient will receive a text reminder 9 and 3 days before their appointment

^* This process is known as partial booking and is designed to provide some flexibility in regards to when the patient is seen, it also helps reduce DNA numbers as the patients are required to ’opt in’ rather than just being sent an appointment.

For information on whether the patient has been booked or is still sitting on the waiting list please contact:

Merlin Park Call Centre: 091 384599

For clinical information/advice on specific patient referrals please contact the relevant specialty team.