GP Direct Access (GPDA ) Community Diagnostic Services – Reminder to use ErS for
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- Following our previous message to GPs on 22 February 2024, informing you of the outcome of the procurement for our NEL community diagnostic services and the requirement to use eRs to make referrals, we have since confirmed on 12 March 2024 to practices that previous issues have been resolved and ErS functionality is now operational. For further details please see here.
All GPs and referrers are reminded to use ErS to make referrals. From Monday 25March any referrals not made via ErS will be sent back to the GP/referrer.
- CONTEXT For Tower Hamlets GPs ONLY – As you may have heard, NEL are about to open an additional referral route for GP Direct Access Diagnostics across NEL from 1st April 2024 – which has some implications for Tower Hamlets. The changes for Tower Hamlets will impact upon GP Direct Access MRI, cardiac physiology and ultrasound:
- For MRI tests, the provider remains InHealth as it has been to date, but the referral method is changing – we ask people to begin using eRS to request these scans, in line with the standard method of requesting other outpatient services. We recognise that this is a change to current practice but it will bring other longer term benefits by aligning this service with advances in technology which can unlock other benefits such as directly bookable clinic slots. InHealth will continue to see patients at the Stratford site, and offer patients the choice to go to other InHealth locations if they prefer. The same service has been recommissioned so you can continue to refer for the same tests as previously.
- For cardiac physiology and ultrasound, we have commissioned a new service from Omnes across Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest (TNW) to include 24 hour tape, 12 lead ECG and interpretation and echocardiography. This service is in additon to existing referral routes into Barts Health NHS Trust, but will offer patients both additional choice of location for their scans and also for some modalities, a significantly shorter waiting time than is currently likely at the Royal London Hospital. We are still confirming the final locations of all of these services, but there are scheduled to be at least eight across TNW, with the three in Tower Hamlets proposed to be at St Andrews Health Centre, Bethnal Green Health Centre and Spitalfields Practice. Tower Hamlets patients will also be able to access the other Omnes clinic sites across the TNW Boroughs if it would be more convenient for them or offer shorter waiting times are available. Referral to these new services will also be via eRS.
- These additional services are being offered to increase patient choice and to ensure we keep reducing our backlogs and waiting times, as well as to ensure that patients across NEL have consistent access to diagnostic services and are not unfairly disadvantaged by issues that may crop up from time to time in individual hospital sites. We would further like to reiterate that these are in addition to all existing routes and methods of provision for diagnostic tests and we have no plans to decommission or stop any of the existing services.
- The attached guides show
- All referral forms are within the GP Clinical systems – Please refer to the image below on how to find these on your systems . If needed, training sessions will be provided by CEG to assist practices
Thank you for your ongoing support during this transition.
NEL Diagnostics Team.