Education

RefHelp was developed several years ago with the aim of providing accurate information on referral pathways into Secondary Care and Specialty services in NHS Lothian. Over the years, RefHelp has evolved and is now a dynamic and relevant resource that has gained national recognition. RefHelp is at the interface between Primary and Secondary Care, and as a part of our development strategy, we aim to provide a platform for shared learning and improving the knowledge, skills and practice of all clinicians. Since 2021 RefHelp has become a trusted and well-known educational platform too. We provide evidence-based, high quality educational events that will benefit all our users.

Our Objectives:

1. To identify specific learning needs and potential gaps in knowledge of RefHelp users
2. To provide relevant and regular educational events that are informative and interesting
3. To educate referrers on new clinical updates and local referral pathways 
4. To align learner needs with organisational needs.

RefHelp Events

In September 2021, RefHelp launched RefTalks, a series of 60-minute webinars providing clinical updates & valuable information for Lothian Primary and Secondary Care clinicians to benefit their own practice and patient care. Please note these webinars are intended for NHS East Region employees and trainees.

Featuring: 

• Presentations by Local Specialists 
• Clinical Updates & New Referral Pathways 
• Practical Tips
• Platform for informal discussion
• Certificate for your CPD

Each webinar consists of presentations by 1 or 2 speakers followed by a Q&A Session. All our events are held in the evening from 7:30-8:30pm and are online via MS Teams. Every session is recorded and can be accessed via our Archive section. For bookings, please see the RefTalks page.

Intended Outcomes

RefHelp is the foundation that hosts RefTalks (roof) which is supported by the 5 pillars that are the objectives of this project. The first square is the care that is provided and includes both Primary and Secondary and RefHelp is situated at the heart of this interface. The outer squares (inner to outer) represent the intended impact at a process, service and organisational level respectively. The outcomes that we plan to achieve for each of the following groups are as follows:

1.  Patient – Better care and patient journey with improved quality and value for service.
2.  Primary Care – Better referrals thereby reducing waste and harm caused by delays in patient journey.
3. Secondary Care – Better utilisation of services and resources to further improve efficiency and impact.
4. Interface – Better interface working and understanding to avoid variation and provide sustainability.

In conclusion, the overall goal is to provide the Right Information to ensure referrals are made at the Right Time to the Right Place and patients receive the Right Care.