NICE 2001/ 043
Issued: 20 December 2001

Press Release

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has today issued a guide on appropriate referral practice to the NHS in England and Wales. Referral Advice covers eleven common conditions such as acute low back pain and psoriasis and has been developed as an educational resource for local health communities to develop their own local service guidelines.

The topics were referred to the Institute by the Department of Health and National Assembly for Wales and were selected because they covered areas where there is uncertainty about which patients might benefit from specialist services and which could in turn result in variations in care offered to patients.

The advice is structured to provide clinical criteria on which to assess the urgency of referral across the range of conditions.

The referral advice is not formal Institute guidance, but a tool for developing local protocols on referral to specialist services.

Professor Peter Littlejohns Clinical Director at NICE, said: "The decision to refer a patient to specialist services is extremely important and is based on a variety of factors. Referral Advice is a valuable educational tool to stimulate local discussions among those providing and commissioning care on when patients should be referred to specialist care."

Ends

Notes for editors

 

1.

The Department of Health and National Assembly for Wales asked the Institute to provide guidance to health professionals on appropriate referral of patients from general to specialist services covering eleven conditions:

  • Acne
  • Acute low back pain
  • Atopic eczema in children
  • Menorrhagia
  • Osteoarthritis of the hip
  • Osteoarthritis of the knee
  • Persistent otitis media with effusion (glue ear) in children
  • Psoriasis
  • Recurrent episodes of acute sore throat in children aged up to 15 years
  • Urinary tract 'outflow' symptoms ('prostatism') in men
  • Varicose veins

 
2. The Referral Advice was developed for the Institute by a team managed and coordinated by Oriana Dwight and Professor Joe Collier from St George's Medical School in London.
   
3. The advice was produced by a series of advisory groups including patients, GPs, nurses, managers and relevant specialists coordinated by a steering committee. The initial recommendations were consulted on widely and piloted.
   
4. The advice is structured so as to provide clinical criteria on which to base the urgency of referral together with an implementation section to assist in developing an educational framework for locally based guidelines.
   
5. The Referral Advice is not formal Institute guidance but a resource to stimulate local health communities to discuss referral issues and develop local referral protocols. It is aimed at all those involved in referring patients to specialist services.
   
6. Copies of the Referral Advice have been made available to primary care organisations and will be posted on the NICE web site (www.nice.org.uk) by midday on Thursday 20th December 2001.