Do private practitioners have access to the electronic referral service (ERS)?

How can private GPs refer into the NHS?

Private GPs can refer into NHS for acute care, such as directing a patient to A&E or liaising with on-call NHS specialties.

It is also possible to make two week wait (2WW) cancer referrals. This requires you to obtain local proformas and contact details for the 2WW team. There will typically be a preference for 2WW referrals to come via ERS, however as ERS is not available to private clinicians (currently), a 2WW cancer referral would need to be submitted via secure email (e.g. NHS mail, Egress).

If an NHS GP is going to coordinate a patient’s care, then it may be better for the referral to be made by the NHS GP. In this case, either you can attempt to make contact with the patient’s NHS GP, you could send notes back to the NHS GP (with consent), or print consultation notes for the patient to take to their NHS GP.

As a private GP, can I make regular NHS referrals?

As a private GP, whilst BMA guidance is that you can make routine referrals back into the NHS, in practice this is often significantly more complicated than making an NHS referral in an emergency situation or suspected cancer situation.  

For routine referrals, you can make a private referral, or if the patient wishes to be seen on the NHS on an ongoing basis, it may be better if you give them a copy of medical notes to share with their registered NHS GP who can then oversee the referral and ongoing care.

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