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How to use e-RS for referrers

This guidance is for referrers to use e-RS more effectively.

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Hints and tips

This information list of hints and tips for referrers will help referrers manage referrals to ensure patients access the right care in a timely way. 

To fully understand how to correctly respond to a triage response from a provider and when a provider is asking for more information or when referral is closed (what to do etc), you can follow the steps in the referral assessment guidance. 

Advice and guidance responses should normally be responded to within 2 working days, discuss this with your Integrated Care Board (ICB) to check local timescales. 

If there are any concerns about advice and guidance responses outside of locally agreed timescales, then an advice and guidance can be expedited by contacting the provider/specialty admin via email and quoting the UBRN.

Utilise all available providers, including independent sector providers to enable the patient to be seen more quickly. You can use the indicative wait time (HSCN/N3 connection required to access this link) to advise the patient of the waiting times. 

To support patient choice, ensure you shortlist on average 5 choices from which the patient may choose, where this is practicable, clinically appropriate, and preferred by the patient.  

If a patient has chosen to go to an out of area provider and this has been rejected due to the patient being out of area, contact your commissioner to discuss this further. Patients have a right to choose their provider detailed in the NHS Standard Contract (section 6.8.1 of the NHS contract). 

It is best practice to upload the clinical information when processing the referral.  However, if this is not possible, it should be added:

  • within one working day for urgent and two week wait referrals
  • no more than three working days for a routine referrals

Where appropriate patients should be encouraged to use the Manage Your Referral website within e-RS or the NHS App to manage their referral and appointment. Where patients have an NHS Login account (used for the NHS App), the shortlist of services can be emailed to the patient so they can select a service for triage or book an appointment. Where patients are unable to access the website of NHS App information regarding their referral can be printed from e-RS and patients can also call the dedicated telephone service. 

Temporary patients cannot be referred directly from GP clinical systems. However, you can refer temporary patients via web-based e-RS which means using the e-RS link https://ers.nhs.uk or there may be an icon on the users desktop. Once on the e-RS screen, enter the patients NHS number to search for the patient and refer using this process.

The referral letter/form will need to be saved to “my documents” or secure folder and uploaded using the “add referral letter” function
on the screen. Alternatively, there should be an agreed failsafe process to allow you to submit urgent referrals via a different route.  Contact your ICB to enlist their help if you need to progress via this route swiftly if the priority is two week wait.

Patients not registered to a practice or without an NHS number should be referred using the processes agreed by the ICB and provider, e-RS cannot be used.

We have provided a link to additional advice to support people visiting from abroad on how to access different types of healthcare and whether they may need to pay.

If you have a new user idea or suggestion for improving e-RS, these can now be submitted via the link provided.  You can also view other suggestions and vote on them. 

Guidance  

We have produced guidance for referrers to maximise the benefits of the NHS e-Referral Service.  

Get the best out of e-RS

As a referrer, understand how to get the best out of e-RS and how other services use the system. These pages cover generic guidelines on roles and responsibilities, monitoring worklists, supporting patients with making decisions, adhering to clinical standards and timescales for attaching clinical information. 

GP mergers

These can be difficult to navigate, to ensure that you have all the information you require the e-RS team have produced guidance document outlining all the steps to ensure that information isn’t missed during the transition. 

Archive Viewer

When a unique booking reference has had no activity on it for 18 months, it will automatically be moved into a file called the Archive Viewer. Archived referrals can be found by searching for the patient by using their NHS number, or demographics, when the results are shown for the patient, under the ‘patient activity list’ subheading, there is a check box stating ‘show all non-archived referrals’. Archived referrals can be found by searching for the patient by using their NHS number, when the results are shown for the patient, under the ‘patient activity list’ subheading, there is a box called ‘view archive’. To see archived referrals, you need to click this button, it will open a new page and show you all archived UBRN’s. 

Advice and Guidance toolkit

This toolkit has been created to optimise the use of e-RS and streamline patient care.  The advice and guidance e-RS channel gives the provider the facility to have a two-way conversation with you as the referrer.  This supports patient care and helps to reduce any unnecessary hospital referrals. 

Managing worklists

Find out how to manage a referral worklist and help users understand the functionality of the processes, such as, attachment size, missing referral letters and actioning referrals.  

Business roles

These need to be added to smartcards for anyone that wants to use e-RS. Find out more information about the different role functions. 

Plan and communicate 

Keep up to date with e-RS progress, news, events, and training. 

  • e-RS users may wish to subscribe to the e-RS bulletin to be kept up to date with useful information about both the current system, future developments, events, news, alerts and releases.

  • learn more around how e-RS integrates with NHS booking and clinical systems using the booking and Referral Standards 

  • your local GP IT facilitator will be able to provide support with enquiries relating to e-RS at a local level

  • the e-RS education and development team run a number of training sessions throughout the year, anyone can join, and you can attend multiple sessions if required

Analysis and audit 

e-RS provides some data for referrers. For more in-depth data, you can contact your local Integrated Care Board (ICB). As a referrer, you can see what reports and statistics are available for you to manage within your area. For more detailed information about how e-RS is and has been used within your practice, please contact your ICB which has access to more detailed datasets.

Contact us and further support

Last edited: 9 August 2024 9:18 am