General Medicine References (Further Info) – Urgent Referral & GM Interface Team Consutlant
Urgent Referrals:
Upon reviewing a routine referral, we may upgrade it to urgent if the history and primary care investigations suggest that the patient may benefit from an earlier assessment, e.g., if malignancy or progression of symptoms and worsening of clinical condition is suspected or predicted. Please note we have rarely, if ever, downgraded an urgent priority referral to routine and if a referral was ever downgraded we would make every effort to inform the referrer, ideally by telephone or by email to the practice clinical mailbox. GP practice clinical mailbox addresses are available in the NHS Lothian Outlook global address list.
General Medical Interface Team consultant:
operates out of Accident & Emergency at the RIE on all working weekdays between 8am and 8pm. We carry an Interface Team mobile phone which can be accessed via switchboard. The purpose of the interface team is to liaise with other specialties (eg A&E and primary care), to allow ‘senior to senior’ discussion for complicated patients and to streamline the assessment of patients and their journey of care. We endeavour to either review patients on the same day or advise on whether clinic or ambulatory care are suitable alternatives.
