Adding referrals

You can add referrals to Nervecentre. You might do this when:

You can retrieve referrals, and advice and guidance requests, from e-RS.

Read more about retrieving referrals, and advice and guidance requests

You can create referrals for outgoing inter provider transfers (IPTs). You can generate a referral letter and send it to another service provider.

Read more about adding an outgoing IPT referral

Adding referrals on a mobile

You can't do this on a mobile.

Adding referrals on a desktop

You can add referrals you receive to Nervecentre. For example, a GP sends a referral letter to you. You can use the details on the referral letter to add the referral to Nervecentre.

  1. From  Outpatients > Patient Detail, search for the patient.

    Read more about searching for a patient

    If the patient isn't registered, you can register the patient.

    Read more about registering a patient

  2. From Patient Detail > Patient admin, select Record new referral.

  3. Select the type of referral you want to add.

    A form appears.

  4. From Referrer search, choose the source of the referral.

    The name of this field depends on your organisation.

    Read more about choosing the source of a referral

  5. Complete the form, including all mandatory fields.

    Mandatory fields are marked .

  6. Select Submit Referral.

    The referral appears in Patient admin > Show pathways > Referrals > Active Referrals.

    The referral has the status 'Awaiting triage'.

You can add inbound IPT Inter Provider Transfer. A referral is transferred from one healthcare provider to another healthcare provider. referrals to Nervecentre. For example, another healthcare organisation sends you a referral letter. You can use the details on the letter to add the referral to Nervecentre.

  1. From  Outpatients > Patient Detail, search for the patient.

    Read more about searching for a patient

    If the patient isn't registered, you can register the patient.

    Read more about registering a patient

  2. From Patient Detail > Patient admin, select Record new referral.

  3. Select the type of referral you want to add.

    Your organisation might include 'IPT' in the name of the referral.

    A form appears.

  4. From Referrer search, choose the source of the referral.

    The name of this field depends on your organisation.

    Read more about choosing the source of a referral

  5. Complete the form, including all mandatory fields.

    Mandatory fields are marked .

  6. Select Submit Referral.

    The referral appears in Patient admin > Show pathways > Referrals > Active Referrals.

    The referral has the status 'Awaiting triage'.

You can refer a patient to another healthcare organisation by creating an outbound IPT Inter Provider Transfer. A referral is transferred from one healthcare provider to another healthcare provider. referral.

  1. Open the patient's record.

    • If the patient has an appointment booked, select  Outpatients > Clinic List > double-click on the patient's name > Patient Detail.

      Depending on your permissions, you might need to select Go to patient record.

    • If the patient doesn't have an appointment booked, from  Outpatients > Patient Detail, search for the patient.

      Read more about searching for a patient

  2. From Patient Detail > Patient admin > Show pathways > All, select an active episode of care.

    Active episodes of care appear as blue boxes.

    To select an episode of care, from the top left of the box, select .

  3. Select Record Event.

  4. Select the type of event you want to add.

    For an outbound IPT referral, your organisation might include 'IPT' in the name of the event.

    A form appears.

  5. Complete the form, including all mandatory fields.

    Mandatory fields are marked .

  6. Select Submit Event.

  7. Select a correspondence option to change who the letters are sent to.

    To not send the letters, but record the form as completed, select None.

    The options you see depend on your organisation.

  8. Select Click to preview letters.

    The letters appear in your organisation's PDF viewer.

    A list of letters appears on the right. This shows the recipient of each letter and how the letter is delivered.

    For example, 'Service Provider - Email' or 'Addressee - Manual Print'

  9. Select Send.

    The referral appears in Patient admin > Show pathways > Other.

    If the referral needs you to record an outcome, the referral has the status 'Outcome required'.

Some forms for referrals include the field Referrer search. This field allows you to search for a referral source. For example, a GP or service provider.

Choose referral source

Select to view a list of different types of referral source.

For example, GP, dentist, consultant, emergency department.

From this list, select a type of referral source. You can:

  • Search for a referral source of that type

  • Manually add a referral source of that type

Set To Patient's GP

Select to set the source of the referral as the patient's GP.

Nervecentre searches for the patient's GP practice and gives you a list of GPs at that practice.
Search for a referral source

For some types of referral source, you can search for the referral source. For example, consultant initiated.

Search Within This Trust

Select to view a list of referral sources from within your organisation.

Search criteria.

Select to flip the information shown in B and C.

Select to clear that search criterion.

Search

Select to search.

Clear

Select to clear all search criteria.

Select an option to view a list of referral sources below.

For example, this might show a list of trusts you can receive referrals from.

Shows a list of referral sources.

For example, this might show a list of consultants in the selected trust. A consultant in that trust might refer a patient to you.

Select an option to view and edit details about the referral source.
Add referral source and edit details

For any type of referral source, you can manually add the referral source. For some types of referral source, you must manually add the referral source. For example, self-referral.

If you search for a referral source, then select a source, you can view and edit the source's details.

Enter information about the referral source.

Save

Select to save your referral source.

Office administrators in the back office can retrieve referrals, advice and guidance requests, and other information from e-RS Electronic Referral Service. Used by GPs/patients to book initial appointments with specialists at a convenient time. This would replace the current system where a referral is made to the specialist who then sends out a letter with an appointment – if the patient can’t attend that appointment they’ll have to call back and rearrange..

Read about e-RS and the back office

You can also retrieve information about a specific patient from e-RS. For example, Nervecentre retrieved a referral for a patient from e-RS. In Nervecentre, you send a message by e-RS to the referrer asking for more information. The referrer adds another attachment to the referral in e-RS. You need to retrieve the new attachment for the patient from e-RS.

To retrieve information for e-RS, you must be logged in with your Care Identity account and have appropriate permissions.

  1. From  Outpatients > Patient Detail, search for the patient.

    Read more about searching for a patient

  2. From Patient Detail > Patient admin, select E-RS Refresh.

  3. Select your role, then Select.

    These roles are related to your Care Identity account and smartcard.

  4. Sign in to the NHS with your Care Identity account.

    A dialogue box appears. This shows Nervecentre retrieving information from e-RS.

  5. Optional: select Lock to lock the screen.

    You might lock the screen if you want to leave Nervecentre retrieving information while you do something else.

    When you lock the screen, you can't do anything in Nervecentre until you log back in, or someone logs you out.

    • To log in, enter your password and select Login.

    • To log out, select Logout.

  6. Optional: To stop retrieving information, select Stop.

  7. When Nervecentre has finished retrieving information, a summary is shown.

    Select Close.

You can delete a referral that has not been acknowledged or accepted. You might delete a referral if you added a referral in error, or you made an error when adding the referral.

  1. From  Outpatients > Patient Detail, search for the patient.

    Read more about searching for a patient

  2. From Patient Detail > Patient admin > Show pathways > Referrals > Active Referrals, select a referral.

  3. Select Delete referral.

  4. Select Yes.

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