MECS Direct Electronic Routine Referrals to Cannock Chase Hospital - 25/01/2018

FAO: All South Staffordshire MECS Practitioners and Practice Lead Contractors

Whilst the quality and safety of South Staffordshire MECS is increasingly being remarked upon by GPs and commissioners, a number of local GPs have expressed some frustration that routine referrals from MECS are still being made through the GP in most instances, rather than directly to the Eye Department. Whilst this is largely a historical anomaly, one can sympathise with GPs when they grumble that they are performing little more than a clerical service, as they will rarely (if ever) deflect such referrals to the Eye Department if requested to make them by the optometrist.

Following discussions with service commissioners, GPs and CegedimRx (formerly Webstar Health), SASPEC has secured a direct electronic referral mechanism from the South Staffordshire MECS OptoManager module to Cannock Chase Hospital. Here are the salient points:

Direct electronic referrals apply only to routine referrals from MECS. Urgent referrals from MECS will still need to be faxed manually to New Cross ARC, Queens Hospital or BMEC City Hospital as before (see Community Eyecare page)
Direct electronic referral of MECS patients from the OptoManager module applies only to routine referrals to Cannock Chase Hospital (following the move from County Hospital on 2nd January). The protocols for sending routine referrals from MECS to New Cross Hospital, Queens Hospital, Samuel Johnson Hospital and Sir Robert Peel Hospital remain unchanged (see Community Eyecare page)
At the same time as automatically sending the MECS routine referral electronically to Cannock Chase Hospital upon the practitioner signing off the episode, the OptoManager module will also fax the report automatically to the GP, marking it "No Action Required" so that the referral isn't duplicated by the GP
This change takes place with immediate effect.