Notes regarding SCI Gateway referrals
Sci Gateway referrals should only be made when referring a patient for the first time (or a new episode after previously being discharged from a specialty) or if you are changing the priority of a referral.
A good proportion of Sci Gateway referrals are requests for information or sharing additional details. There are often better, and easier, routes for doing this.
There are some common themes, and you may find the information and advice below helpful.
- To communicate with a specific consultant about a patient that is already known to them, including questions about the patient being on any surgical waiting list or advice about treatment, please contact the specific consultant directly – this is usually best done by emailing them or their secretary directly, or if there is no response to this by calling.
- If you, or your patient, would like to know more about current waiting times, these can be found on the relevant dashboards on the NHS Internet site:
NHS Lothian Inpatient Waiting Times – Your Rights & Privacy
NHS Lothian Outpatient Waiting Times – Your Rights & Privacy
- If your patient wishes to know where they are on an outpatient waiting list, they can contact the relevant appointments office using the details on their initial letter from the hospital or by contacting the hospital and asking to be directed to the relevant appointments office.
- If, after assessment, you find clinical reasons (e.g. new acute symptoms or significant deterioration) why a referral may need to be expedited, please clearly state these in a new Sci Gateway Referral and alter the priority of the referral (e.g. routine to urgent).
- There is no need to send additional referrals to attach blood or radiology results – these are available on Trak.
- If you are advising about a change of address, please ask the patient to contact the relevant appointments office using the details on their initial letter from the hospital or by contacting the hospital and asking to be directed to the relevant appointments office.
- Please avoid sending the same referral for a patient simultaneously to different specialties (e.g. Gynaecology and Chalmers). This is not usually identified at triage and can result in longer waiting lists and wasted appointments.
