BMJ  2006;332:490 (25 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7539.490-a

Letter

Referrals between consultants

System has potential for error

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Goodman draws attention to a problem that frustrates general practitioners and hospital doctors alike: it is ludicrous that one professional cannot readily refer to another in the hospital system.1

Much anecdotal evidence shows that this is a major problem. Deliberately introducing delay into such a referral system increases the risk of problems arising in the interim. Perhaps the time has come for a formal study of the effects of obstructing efficient clinical referral. If hospital risk managers are not considering this, then why not?

The rising practice of asking general practitioners to make a referral to a second consultant at the request of a first consultant introduces an extra step into the referral process, which increases the potential for error and also delay. Many general practitioners are extremely efficient, but is it fair to them, or patients, to erect an unnecessary hurdle to referral that a consultant considers . . . [Full text of this article]

Peter Gooderham, tutor

Cardiff Law School, Cardiff CF10 3XJ GooderhamEP@Cardiff.ac.uk


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