Appointments and care

Referrals to a specialist

Sometimes the best next step is for you to see a specialist, have a hospital test, or be seen by a community team. When that happens, we send a referral for you. This page explains how referrals work, how long they usually take, and what to do if you have not heard anything.

Ask us about a referral using PATCHS (opens the PATCHS website) Book or change a hospital appointment (opens the NHS website)

The short version

Your GP sends the referral. The hospital or service decides how quickly you are seen and arranges your appointment.

Ashcroft Surgery cannot see where you are on a hospital waiting list, and we cannot make a routine appointment happen faster. If you have already been given an appointment, the hospital is the best place to ask about dates and changes.

You will almost always hear about your appointment date before we do. That is normal and does not mean anything has gone wrong.

Routine referral

Usually a longer wait

The hospital contacts you, or sends you a booking reference so you can choose your appointment yourself.

Urgent referral

Seen much sooner

Please keep yourself free for the first appointment you are offered, and tell us straight away if you have not heard within 2 weeks.

No referral needed

Some services take you direct

Talking therapies, maternity care and sexual health can all be contacted without seeing a GP first.

If you become unwell while you are waiting

Waiting for a hospital appointment does not mean you have to cope alone. If things change, please tell someone.

Call 999 now if you or someone else has:

signs of a heart attack, such as chest pain that spreads to the arm, jaw or back
signs of a stroke — face drooping, weakness in an arm, or slurred speech
severe difficulty breathing
heavy bleeding that will not stop
a seizure that will not stop, or sudden confusion
thoughts of ending their life and is in immediate danger

Do not wait for a hospital appointment and do not use an online form. Call 999 or go to your nearest emergency department.

Use NHS 111 if you need help now but it is not an emergency

NHS 111 is open 24 hours a day, every day. Call 111 or get help from NHS 111 online (opens the NHS 111 website).

Contact us if your symptoms change

If the problem you were referred for gets worse, or you develop new symptoms, please tell us. We can review your care and, where it is needed, ask the hospital to see you sooner. Call 01274 612 279 or use PATCHS (opens the PATCHS website).

What a referral is

A referral is a letter from your GP or another clinician here asking a different service to take a look at your problem. It is not just a note saying "please see this patient". It sets out your symptoms, how long they have been going on, your past health problems, your medicines, any allergies, your test results and anything else the specialist needs to know.

Think of it a little like handing over a case file rather than passing on a message. The better the file, the better the specialist can help you.

We can refer you to:

a hospital consultant and their team, for example in dermatology (skin), cardiology (heart) or gynaecology
a hospital test or scan, such as an ultrasound or a heart tracing
a community team, such as physiotherapy, podiatry (feet), district nursing or mental health services
other NHS services, such as weight management or stop smoking support

What happens, step by step

Most referrals in England are now sent electronically through the NHS e-Referral Service. Here is the journey from your appointment with us to your appointment at the hospital.

You and your clinician agree that a referral is the right next step

Your GP will explain why they think you do or do not need to see a specialist, and what the referral is for.
We write and send the referral

Your GP writes or dictates the letter. Our secretarial team checks it and sends it. Urgent referrals are prioritised and sent within 1 to 2 working days. Routine referrals are usually sent within a few working days.
The hospital or service reviews it

A specialist team reads the referral and decides how urgent it is, which clinic you need, and whether any tests should be arranged first. Sometimes a referral is sent back to us with advice instead — see getting specialist advice without a hospital appointment.
Your appointment is arranged

Depending on the service, either the hospital contacts you with a date, or you are given a booking reference number and a password so you can choose the date, time and place yourself. You can do this in the NHS App, online, or by phone.
You attend

Your first appointment may be with a consultant, a specialist nurse or a therapist. Sometimes the first thing you are offered is a test or scan rather than a face-to-face clinic appointment. That is still part of the pathway, so please go.
The specialist writes back to us

After your appointment the specialist sends a letter to the practice with what they found and what happens next. You should normally get a copy too. If you do not receive one, you can ask for it.

Keep us up to date

Please make sure we have your correct phone number and address

Hospitals contact people by letter, text, email and phone. If your details are out of date, appointments get missed and referrals can be closed. Tell us — and the hospital — if anything changes.

How long will I wait?

Waiting times are set by the hospital, not by us, and they vary a great deal between specialties and hospitals. The NHS does have national standards, and these are your best guide to what to expect.

National NHS waiting time standards in England
Type of referral	What the NHS standard says	What this means for you
Routine, consultant-led treatment	You have a legal right under the NHS Constitution to start treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral.	Some clinics are much quicker than this. The right does not apply if you choose to wait longer, if waiting is better for you clinically, or if you do not attend appointments you were offered.
Urgent referral for suspected cancer	Cancer should be confirmed or ruled out within 28 days of the referral. This is called the Faster Diagnosis Standard.	You should get a letter from the hospital within a few days, and an appointment or test soon after — often within 2 weeks.
Community services and therapies	No single national standard. Waits depend on the service.	The service will write or phone you. Some ask you to ring them to book, so please open your post.

You can look up the current waiting time at a particular hospital before you choose it. Check hospital waiting times on the My Planned Care website (opens the My Planned Care website). The site also has advice on staying as well as possible while you wait.

You can read the full national rules in the NHS guide to waiting times in England (opens the NHS website).

If you have been referred urgently for a possible cancer

Being referred this way does not mean your GP thinks you have cancer. It means you have a symptom that needs checking quickly so that cancer can be ruled out — or found early, when it is most treatable. According to Cancer Research UK (opens the Cancer Research UK website), more than 9 in every 10 people referred on this pathway are not found to have cancer.

We know this kind of referral is worrying. Please try not to put the appointment off. The whole point of the pathway is to get you an answer quickly.

What to expect

A letter from the hospital within a few days confirming they have your referral.
An appointment or a test soon after — often within about 2 weeks.
Your first appointment may be a scan or a test rather than a clinic visit.
You should be told whether you have cancer, or that cancer has been ruled out, within 28 days of the referral.

What we ask of you

Keep yourself available over the next two weeks if you can.
Tell us before you leave the appointment if you are going away, so we can plan around it.
Answer calls from numbers you do not recognise — hospitals often ring.
If you cannot attend, rearrange rather than simply not going.

Heard nothing after 2 weeks?

If you were referred urgently or "fast tracked" and you have had no contact from the hospital within 2 weeks, please contact us straight away. Call 01274 612 279 and tell reception it is about an urgent referral. Do not wait to see whether something arrives.

I have heard nothing about my referral

This is the question we are asked most often. Who to contact depends on the type of referral and how long it has been.

Urgent or fast-track referral, nothing after 2 weeks

Contact the practice urgently. Phone 01274 612 279.

Routine referral, nothing after 4 weeks

Contact the hospital first. For Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, the Central Patient Booking Service is 01274 274 274. For other hospitals, use the number on your referral information.

Still stuck, or not sure who to ring

Send us a message on PATCHS (opens the PATCHS website) or call us. We will check the referral was sent and received, and chase it where we can.

Being honest about what we can and cannot do

We can confirm that your referral was sent and that the hospital received it. We can raise a concern with the specialist team if your condition has changed.

We cannot see your position on a hospital waiting list, tell you your appointment date, or move you up the queue for a routine appointment. Those decisions belong to the hospital.

Every NHS trust also has a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) that helps patients with problems and questions. For Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, the Patient Experience team can be reached on 01274 364 810, Monday to Friday. Read about PALS on the NHS website (opens the NHS website).

"I think I need to see a specialist"

You are always welcome to ask. Asking for a referral is not a difficult or awkward request, and no one here will mind. Whether a referral is made depends on what is clinically right for you, and that is a decision your GP has to make.

Why GPs decide about referrals

In the UK, GPs are trained as specialists in the whole person. We see a very wide range of problems every day — headaches, joint pain, breathlessness, tiredness, skin changes, low mood — so we are usually well placed to tell which problems need a hospital opinion and which do not.

It is a bit like taking a car to a good general mechanic before booking the gearbox specialist. Most things can be sorted there and then. When something really does need the specialist, the mechanic knows which one, and can explain exactly what the problem is.

When we will usually refer

Your GP will normally arrange a referral if your problem:

is outside what general practice can safely manage
needs specialist tests or scans we cannot request
needs specialist treatment or medicines
has not improved with the treatment we have tried
has features that suggest something serious

If you and your GP see it differently

Please say so. Tell us what is worrying you and why you feel a specialist is needed — that information genuinely changes decisions. Your GP will explain their thinking too. Often the conversation ends with an agreed plan, and sometimes with the GP changing their mind.

If we do not think a referral is right today, we will explain why and tell you what we are doing instead, such as tests, treatment to try, or a review at a set time. You can also ask for a second opinion from another GP here.

It helps us if you describe things exactly as they are — how long the problem has lasted, how bad it is at its worst, and what it stops you doing. We are not judging; we are trying to match the picture to the right next step.

Getting specialist advice without a hospital appointment

Your GP can now message a hospital specialist directly through the NHS e-Referral Service and ask for advice about your care. This is called advice and guidance.

It is used to check whether a referral is the right thing, to ask about your test results, or to get a treatment plan the GP can then carry out here. The specialist replies electronically, usually much faster than a clinic appointment.

For many people this is good news: you get a specialist opinion without travelling to hospital or waiting months. If the specialist thinks you do need to be seen, the request is turned into a full referral.

This does not block referrals. If your GP believes you need to see a specialist in person, they will refer you.

Choosing where you are seen

In most cases you have a legal right to choose which hospital in England you go to for your first outpatient appointment, and which consultant-led team looks after you. You do not have to stay in Bradford.

How to use your choice

Tell your GP at the time of the referral where you would prefer to go.
Compare waiting times first on My Planned Care (opens the My Planned Care website).
If you are given a booking reference, you can pick from the listed hospitals yourself.
You can book online, in the NHS App, or by phoning the NHS e-Referral Service on 0345 608 8888.

Worth thinking about first

Choosing Leeds, Harrogate or anywhere else is completely allowed. But your follow-up appointments, tests and any surgery will usually be at that hospital too.

Before you choose somewhere further away, ask yourself honestly whether you could make that journey several times, possibly when you are unwell or after an operation. If the answer is no, closer to home may serve you better.

There are some limits to choice — for example in urgent cancer pathways, maternity care and some mental health services. Your GP will tell you if choice does not apply. Read NHS advice on referrals for specialist care (opens the NHS website).

Services you can go to without seeing a GP first

You do not need an appointment with us for everything. These local services accept people directly, which usually means you are seen sooner.

Mental health

NHS Talking Therapies

Free NHS help for stress, low mood, worry, panic and sleep problems, for people aged 16 and over registered with a GP in Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale or Craven.

Refer yourself to Bradford District and Craven Talking Therapies (opens the Talking Therapies website) or call 01274 221 234.

Pregnancy

Maternity care

As soon as you have a positive pregnancy test you can contact the midwives yourself. You do not need to see a GP first.

Refer yourself to Bradford maternity services (opens the Bradford Teaching Hospitals website). Contact us or NHS 111 if you have pain or bleeding.

Sexual health

Contraception and sexual health

Locala runs free, confidential clinics across Bradford for contraception, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, and advice. No referral is needed.

Find Locala sexual health clinics in Bradford (opens the Locala website) or call 030 3330 9500.

Other services in the district also accept self-referrals from time to time. If you are not sure whether you need to see a GP first, ask our reception team — they can point you to the right route and save you an appointment.

After your hospital appointment

Letters and results

The specialist writes to the practice with their findings and their plan. You should normally receive a copy of that letter. If one does not arrive, you can ask the hospital for it.

Results of tests arranged by the hospital come from the hospital team, not from us. If you were told to expect results, please contact the department that arranged the test.

Medicines started by a specialist

If a specialist recommends a new medicine, we will review that recommendation before prescribing. This is a safety step, not a delay for its own sake — the prescriber is legally responsible for what they sign.

Please allow time for the letter to reach us. If you need the medicine urgently, the hospital team can prescribe it.

If you cannot attend, please rearrange

Hospitals may discharge you back to the practice if you miss appointments without letting them know, and you would then need a new referral and a new wait. A short phone call keeps your place and frees the slot for someone else.

If you choose to be seen privately

Some people decide to pay to see a specialist privately. That is entirely your choice and it does not affect the NHS care you receive from us.

What we can do

Provide a referral letter for a private specialist where it is clinically appropriate.
Continue all of your usual NHS care alongside it.

What to be aware of

NHS and private care are kept separate. You pay for private appointments, tests and treatment.
Being seen privately does not change your place on an NHS waiting list.
You arrange the private appointment yourself — we cannot book it or influence the date.
Tests or medicines recommended privately are not automatically available on the NHS.

Our policy on prescribing medicines recommended by private specialists is set out on our private specialist prescribing page. Some letters and reports carry a fee — see our fees page.

Common questions

Can I ask to see a particular consultant?

Usually yes. You have the right to choose the consultant-led team that looks after your treatment, so you can ask to be referred to a named consultant's team. Bear in mind that you may be seen by another member of that team, and that a popular consultant may have a longer wait.

Will the practice tell me my appointment date?

No. Hospitals contact you directly, and you will normally know your date before we do. If you have a booking reference you can choose the date yourself in the NHS App or on the NHS website.

How do I change or cancel a hospital appointment?

Contact the hospital, not us. Use the number on your appointment letter, or the NHS App if the appointment appears there. For Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, the Central Patient Booking Service is 01274 274 274.

Can I get a copy of my referral letter?

Yes. Ask reception and we will arrange it. You may also be able to see letters in your GP record through the NHS App. When doctors write to each other about your care they should aim to give you a copy, so if you have not had one, it is reasonable to ask.

My referral was returned or rejected. What now?

This happens sometimes — for example if the service is not the right one, if a test is needed first, or if the specialist has sent advice instead. We will look at what the hospital has said and contact you about the next step. If you have been waiting and heard nothing, get in touch and we will check.

I need an interpreter or extra support at my hospital appointment

Tell us when the referral is made and tell the hospital when you book. Interpreters, including British Sign Language, and other communication support can be arranged free of charge. Let them know too if you need a longer appointment, step-free access, or a quiet space.

Can someone deal with my referral on my behalf?

Yes, with your permission. Tell us who you are happy for us to speak to, and we will record it. Parents and guardians can act for children, and carers can act for someone who cannot manage their own arrangements.

Do I need a referral to go to A&E or an urgent treatment centre?

No. Emergency and urgent care never needs a referral. If you need medical help now but it is not an emergency, call NHS 111 or use NHS 111 online. If it is an emergency, call 999.