From 1  April  2018  Guy’s and St Thomas’ will be moving to full use of e-RS, accepting only e-RS referrals from GPs.

This programme will help the Trust meet the conditions of the NHS Standard Contract which states that, as of 1 October 2018, NHS providers ‘need not accept (and will not be paid for any activity resulting from) referrals by GPs to Consultant-led acute outpatient services made other than through the NHS e-Referral Service’

We aim to switch off paper referrals across the Trust in a phased way from now until March 2018.

The first tranche of services due to only accept via e-RS, as of 1 September 2017,are:

• Diabetes

• Dermatology

• Gynaecology

• Ophthalmology

• Neurology

• Cancer 2 week wait

• Antenatal (Assessment Service)

• MCATTS (Lambeth & Southwark)

After 1 September 2017 referrals for these services sent via paper or email will be returned to the referrer, requesting that they re-refer via e-RS.

When making a 2ww suspected cancer referral on e-RS, please ensure the following are selected:

Select Priority:                  2 Week Wait

Select Specialty:               2WW

Select Clinic Type:            Select appropriate 2ww clinic type

The 2ww profoma must be attached on e-RS within 24 hours of the referral being made.  It is best practice, due to the importance of the 2ww pathway, that the appointment on e-RS is made before the patient leaves the practice either by the GP or the administrator.

If the patient is given the details to book the appointment, it is important that the practice has in place mechanisms to see if the appointment has been made.

Further information can be accessed here.

We are getting a large number of skin cancer screening patients booked inappropriately into our general dermatology service. For patients who do not meet the 2ww skin criteria for moles, basal cell carcinoma, skin screening etc, please refer to our Skin Cancer Screening service on e-RS.  This can be accessed via:

Specialty:          Dermatology

Clinic Type:       Basal Cell Carcinoma

We also have an alert on the general service (“For routine skin cancer screening use clinic type ‘Basal Cell Carcinoma’ to refer to the correct clinic”) which should help GPs refer to the correct service for these referrals.

As we are based across two sites, we would request that when shortlisting the list of providers, both Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital are selected. There are alerts on some services to say where the majority of clinics are held, eg ENT is mainly at Guy’s. Please encourage your patient to book at either site with availability as this will reduce the number of ‘defer to provider’ requests.

Due to the low wait times for our FGM clinic, we are seeing a number of referrers using this service to refer general patients.  This is an inappropriate use of this service. 

Please refer to the service name when shortlisting services for patients to ensure the most clinically appropriate service has been selected. This will also prevent unnecessary rebookings and avoid delays to patient care.

There is an alert on the service which states “This service is ONLY for FGM - All other gynaecological problems are excluded”.

From 1 September 2017 no GP referrals will be accepted via the nhs.net mailbox. The mailbox will continue to accept tertiary and self-referrals referrals via email.

On e-RS, the Antenatal service is set up as a single directly bookable Telephone Assessment Service (no location shown) which is mapped to a virtual/dummy 

PAS clinic. Please ensure that the referral form is attached within 24 hours to avoid any delay.

How can you find this service?

The service is mapped as outlined below:

Specialty Name:               Obstetrics

Clinic Type:                       Antenatal

Service Name:                  Antenatal Assessment Service (patient not to attend)

What do you need to do?

When referring the patient, please ensure that you advise the patient that you will be booking them a dummy appointment which they must NOT attend.  (Please note that the service is also set up to display dummy appointment slots set to run up at night in order to minimise any chance of the patient turning up and, as an added precaution, also added instructions to this effect in the Referrer Alert and Instructions to Patients).

Once the referral form has been attached to the dummy appointment, it will be available to us for processing.  We will triage the referral and contact the patient to book them their appointment(s) – midwife and scan.

If you have any queries regarding e-RS (training etc) please contact your local GP IT facilitator.

Please contact Arti Trivedi (e-RS Manager) arti.trivedi@gstt.nhs.uk for non-training issues relating to e-RS at Guy’s and St Thomas’ only. 

The Integrated Heart Failure service across Lambeth and Southwark has launched a new diagnostic pathways and medication guidelines (select ‘education for GPs’ on the webpage). The new resources will be available on DXS soon and they are keen to arrange update sessions at practices, or in your locality.  The service will also be holding education events in September 2017 – details will be published on the GSTT website soon.

The Paediatric Audiology Service has introduced an nhs.net email facility and downloadable referral form for children requiring audiological care across South East London.

Who can refer?

• ·        We accept Paediatric Audiology referrals from any health professional for an infant or child who has a GP in Lambeth, Southwark or Lewisham
• ·        We accept some referrals from any health professional for an infant or child who has a GP in Bromley, Bexley or Greenwich
• ·        We accept referrals from other boroughs on a case by case basis
• ·        Referrals should only be made with the informed consent of the child's parents or carers.

Please see ‘Read More’ for detailed guidance on our referral criteria

The FNP programme accepts referrals for pregnant women, who are under 20 having their first baby, to family nurse partnership for outreach support in Lambeth and Southwark. In Lambeth only, it is now also available to 20 - 24 years old who have a history of safeguarding concerns, or have been looked after or accommodated by the local authority.

The Department of Health has introduced new legislation affecting overseas visitors that will become law in October 2017.

In anticipation of this change, the Trust has started a pilot project to test a new approach to checking patient entitlement. We are asking all patients in two service areas to bring documents that prove their identity and their current address. The pilot has already started in Assisted Conception and is being extended to the Diabetes Rapid Access Clinic over the coming weeks.

Maternity patients have had to provide two forms of identification since 2012 and this requirement will continue as normal.

Further information about the new Charging Regulations is available at: www.nhs.uk/visitingengland

Alternatively please email the Overseas Visitors team at Guy’s and St Thomas’: ovu@gstt.nhs.uk

Everyone is welcome to attend Guy’s and St Thomas’ Annual Public Meeting which will be held at 6pm on Thursday 14 September in the Marquee in the gardens of St Thomas’ Hospital.

There will be refreshments and information stands about improvements to the care of older people both in our hospitals and in the local community in the same venue from 5.30pm.

Please advise any of your patients travelling to our hospitals that train services to Waterloo station are severely disrupted until 28 August with platform closures, fewer train services and queues expected in peak time – see South West Trains for full details.

The South London Genomics Medicine Centre have developed three massive open online courses (MOOCs) to teach you about genomics and demonstrate their relevance to healthcare.

A two-day multidisciplinary course for hospital and community staff for GPs, nurses, healtcare workers and anyone who cares for people in their last year or so of life.

Events are taking place at Guy’s and St Thomas’ to celebrate Organ Donation Week which runs from Monday 4 to Sunday 10 September.

GPs are invited to join Dr Vishakha Tripathi for an afternoon of interactive talks on genomics on Tuesday 12 September being held at King’s College Hospital in collaboration with the South London NHS Genomic Medicine Centre team.

The London Headache and Facial Pain Symposium is unique in its comprehensive approach to facial pain. This topic will be addressed by international experts with differing perspectives. These include the general practitioner, the pain specialist, the neurologist, the radiotherapist and the neurosurgeon.

The course will provide delegates with extensive teaching on the diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment of facial pain and trigeminal neuralgia. On completion attendees will be equipped with the skills required to diagnose and treat patients with facial pain.

For the full programme including speakers and costs please click here.

The course is aimed at GPs with a range of interests and experience, including trainees fulfilling dermatology requirements of the RCGP curriculum, trainees approaching MRCGP examinations, established salaried GPs and partners looking to update their dermatology knowledge, dermatology clinical assistants, dermatology GPSIs or those with potential roles in commissioning dermatology services. The course is also suitable for physicians with an interest in dermatology (specifically medical and genito-urinary trainees).

Whether you choose to attend for one, two or three days, this course will provide you with a comprehensive, practical and enjoyable overview of dermatology, backed-up by the latest evidence and up-to-the-minute clinical guidelines.