RAS — can we enforce a mandatory referral letter before a referral is sent?

e-Referral Service (e-RS)
1

Hi all,

We’re moving from IBS to RAS so we can see referrals without the patient calling us first. RAS mostly solves this — referrals now show on our Referrals for Review worklist.

One gap remains: referrals sent without a referral letter attached don’t appear on the worklist at all. We can only find them by UBRN in enquiries, and usually only after the patient calls us. The referring UI (GP side) doesn’t block sending without a referral letter.

Can the RAS service definition be configured so a referral cannot be sent to us unless a referral letter is attached? it says so here . This configuration is possible for IBS but not RAS (not from the UI anyway)…

Can someone confirm if there is a way to block referral without a referral letter in RAS?

Thanks

2

Hi @Sami_Dannoune - Welcome to the community and thanks for your post!

For a triage/RAS referral to first appear on the Referrals for Review worklist, two conditions must be met:

  1. The referral must be sent to that triage service
  2. The referral must have an associated referral letter, i.e. either an attachment and/or clinical referral information (added via an integrated referrer system)

As these two steps are separate workflow actions, a referrer may send the referral, not immediately adding a referral letter. It remains in their Missing referral letters worklist to do so.

Triage services always require a referral letter (the referral can’t be triaged without it), so it is already mandatory, but after step (1) above.

Hope that helps!

Thanks,

Z.