On 21 September 2016 Kernow CCG sent out a communication to all East Cornwall GP practices explaining that they will be adopting Clinical Referral Guidelines (CRGs) that Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust (PHNT) use to allow consultants to triage referrals and, in some cases, provide information back to the GP on a suitable course of action or management plan rather than seeing the patient face-to-face.
This has obvious benefits for the patient such as less travel and shorter waits for treatment or tests but it also has a number of other benefits. It should start to improve GP to consultant communication, help to address some of PHNT's constrained specialty areas and long waits, as well reduce the cost of healthcare overall.
East Cornwall adopting these referral guidelines will ensure a consistent approach across the Western locality and support PHNT SAGE (Specialist Advice and Guidance Expertise) which is currently being implemented in Urology, Gastro, and Dermatology.
These guidelines contain helpful primary care information for management of referrals and up to date referral criteria. Please note some of these CRGs contain pre-referral requisites, referrals may be returned if the relevant information is not included in the referral.