GIRFT has produced two new ENT guides to support the development of local patient referral guidelines for adults and children.
The guidelines provide a structured approach to managing some of the most common ENT conditions, and support clinicians in referring patients to the right service. Developed to promote best practice and reduce unwarranted variation, they guide primary care teams in initiating appropriate pre-referral investigations and interventions. This helps to improve referral quality and enhance co-ordination across services.
The guides – one focused on adult ENT conditions and the other for children – have been developed in collaboration with ENT and paediatric specialists. They offer health systems a selection of standardised referral pathways from primary care to help shape the development of local patient referral guidelines. These would ensure that secondary care clinicians receive the necessary clinical and administrative referral information to minimise rejected or redirected referrals, and reduce time spent triaging referrals prior to treatment.
The guidelines aim to:
- promote evidence-based assessment and management of patients for some of the most common ENT conditions;
- build consistency and reduce unwarranted variation in referrals;
- streamline referral and treatment pathways for patients, optimising referrals into secondary care;
- ensure that appropriate tests and investigations are organised prior to or concurrently with the referral helping to reduce the number of follow-up appointments and shorten patient waiting times for treatment;
- support the co-design of referral pathways and templates with stakeholders including clear criteria and guidance to support the referrer.
The referral guidelines should be reviewed by systems and, as necessary, adapted for local services to facilitate an effective referral system.
In addition, the management of some childhood ENT conditions requires multidisciplinary working, particularly with paediatrics. Pathways between ENT and general paediatrics are encouraged with clear guidance to primary care on where referrals should be sent within a system.
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