Providers of directly bookable services

This guidance shows you how to review accept or reject a referral created in the NHS e-Referral service (e-RS).

Review, accept or reject a referral

Referrals will appear on the Referrals for Review worklist once an appointment is booked and referral letter/clinical information attached.

All actions carried out for referrals (e.g. appointments) created in the NHS Service (e-RS) should be managed/changed using e-RS. Where the service is directly bookable, any such changes will automatically be updated in e-RS.

with the worklists tab open, use the filters available to view appropriate referrals
you can filter referrals by worklist, service, clinician, speciality, location and referral type.

Reviewing referrals

To review a referral:

select an appropriate UBRN to review. This opens the referral and shows a summary of the referral details
if a referrer sends clinical referral information from their GP system, then the Clinical Information column will display this as a series of headings. It can be viewed by selecting each heading and/or printed by selecting the Clinical Information Summary option from the Print button dropdown
Otherwise referral letters will be located in and accessed via the Attachments section
Clicking on the blue hyperlink to open/review/print the referral letter

Image showing the review referral summary screen

Accepting referrals

To accept a referral:

once you have reviewed the referral and decided it is clinically appropriate for the clinic, select Accept, Review Next in the Review Referral Summary screen
when you accept a referral, e-RS will automatically show the next UBRN on the worklist for review.

Once accepted, the referral will be removed from the worklist. To find a referral after it’s been accepted you can use the Patient Enquiry with either the patient’s NHS number or appropriate UBRN.

Screen shot of e_RS showing how to accept a referral

Rejecting referrals

Once you have reviewed the referral and decided that it is clinically inappropriate for the clinic:

select Reject in the Review Referral Summary screen
select a reason from the Reason dropdown list and enter further information in the comments field
this information will be visible to the referrer and help them understand why the referral has been rejected
select Reject Referral, Review Next
the appointment will automatically be cancelled in your PAS

Once rejected, the referral will be removed from the worklist. You will be able to find it via the Patient Enquiry but only for six months after the rejection.

Screen shot of e-RS system showing a reject referral screen

Redirecting a referral

Redirecting internally

Where appropriate, you can redirect a referral internally after reviewing the referral, by using the Change Service function. This action can be used as an alternative to rejecting a referral. Whenever you redirect a referral the patient should be involved in the process.

with the Review Referral screen open, select the Change Service button
the Service Selection screen allows you to make changes to priority, specialty/clinic type etc.
either make any appropriate changes or leave the search options as they are
select the Search All option
from the services shown select an appropriate (internal) service
note if you see a service highlighted in orange, this is the service that the referral is currently booked with
select Appointment Search
select an appropriate appointment and click Book
in the appointment details screen you must enter a reason for rebooking the appointment and add any appropriate comment.

click Submit
click Close to the next screen to complete the rebooking

The referral will appear on the referrals for review worklist at the service/clinic the new appointment is booked with.

Redirecting an accepted referral

This allows providers to redirect an accepted referral without the need to cancel the referral and manage it outside the system, allowing an audit trail to be kept in e-RS.

Examples of how to redirect

As an example, within the enquiry results a provider can select the ‘Update/Book’ option from the action drop down.

The options available after 'Update/Book' is selected, varies according to the status of the referral. For example:

The provider has accepted the directly booked referral, cancelled the appointment and now wishes to rebook. The user is now presented with ability to change appointment date/time and will see a new ‘Change Service’ option.

2. The provider has accepted the indirectly booked referral, has then cancelled the appointment and now wishes to rebook. The user is now presented with the ability to rebook into same service (Indirectly Book) or see the new ‘Change Service’ option.

3. The provider has redirected a directly or indirectly booked referral via the ‘Change Service’ option and now needs to change the service again. The user is now presented with the ability to book into the original shortlisted services and also to select other services (new option available ‘Service Selection’).

At present users are unable to redirect booked DNA referrals.

Changing an appointment

There are several reasons and options when changing an appointment. Whenever you change an appointment the patient should be involved in the process.

Option 1: rebooking an appointment

To rebook an appointment:

in the Referrals for Review worklist, find the appropriate UBRN and open it
from the actions available select the Change Appointment Date/Time option
select an appropriate appointment and click Book
you must enter a reason for rebooking the appointment and add any appropriate comments
click Submit
click Close on the next screen to complete the rebooking

This will automatically accept the referral. You can find the referral using the Patient Enquiry.

Option 2: cancel appointment, rebook later

This option will cancel the patient’s appointment and make it available for booking at a later time:

open the referral in the Referrals for Review worklist
select the Change Appointment Date/Time button
in the Appointment Search screen select Cancel Appointment, Rebook Later
you will be prompted with a warning message and you will need to click Yes to proceed
complete the Appointment request details screen
select Submit
click Close on the next screen, which cancels the appointment

The referral can be found on the Appointments for Booking worklist.

Option 3: request admin to rebook

This option allows the appointment or the service to be changed:

open the referral in the Referrals for Review worklist
select the Request Admin to Rebook button
complete the Record Triage Outcome box - comments/instructions for the admin staff must be entered and options are available to add attachments and amend the priority, if required
select Submit to return to the Referrals for Review worklist

The referral can be found on the Appointments for Booking worklist. Find out more about the request admin to rebook function.

The patient enquiry

The Patient Enquiry will allow you to view and action a patient’s referral. All of the actions in this Quick Reference Guide can also be carried out using the Patient Enquiry.

To open a referral via the Patient Enquiry:

select the Enquiries tab
click on the Enquiry Type dropdown
select Patient Enquiry
input either the patient’s NHS number or an appropriate UBRN to search for the referral
click on the Search button
select the correct UBRN and view the available actions from the Actions dropdown list
any actions displayed are dependent on the referral’s previous activity
the view history option will allow you to see a complete audit trail of each referral associated with your service(s)

Last edited: 10 October 2023 11:44 am