Named consultant referrals should be available through Choose and Book wherever possible, NHS Connecting for Health has told hospitals.
Revised guidance on making named clinician referrals using the e-booking system says “occasionally” there are genuine clinical reasons for such a referral.
These include referral to a consultant who is known to have a particular interest, previous contact between the patient and a named clinician, and a close working relationship between the referrer and a named clinician.
The guidance says the functionality should be made available to referrers wherever possible to support good clinical practice.
However, it emphasises that patients do not have the right to see a named consultant and that there needs to be a genuine clinical reason for making a named referral.
It stresses: “Named clinician functionality should not be used routinely as it may make it harder for providers to manage appointment capacity and potentially it can increase the number of appointment slot issues.”
The guidance states that if named clinical functionality is set up correctly clinicians will not be “swamped” with referrers. It says the belief among some hospitals that named consultant referrals will impact on their ability to achieve the 18 week wait is largely unfounded.
The guidance advises GPs to seek the support of their primary care trust if a local provider has not enabled named clinician referrals and a genuine clinical reason exists for it being needed.
Earlier this month, Dr Stephen Miller, medical director for Choose and Book, told EHI Primary Care that the Choose and Book team was encouraging trusts to use the named clinician functionality, but that it was keen to ensure such referrals were not misused.