PRIVATE REFERRALS
GPs will refer to a private specialist when requested, if the referral is considered clinically appropriate.
If you are under the care of a private specialist, practice policy is that if the specialist initiates any medication, it should be prescribed by the specialist on a private prescription for at least the first month. The practice may be able to prescribe ongoing NHS prescriptions after this date, if the GP agrees that the particular medication is appropriate for the patient under NHS guidelines. Your specialist will need to write to the GP after each private appointment, just as is expected of NHS consultants, in order to update the practice regarding your ongoing care.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
- If your GP decides that you need to see a specialist / consultant, please let them know if you would like to be seen privately.
- Please provide your GP with the consultant’s name and hospital address so that a referral letter can be written.
- The referral letter will be ready in 1 week for you to collect from reception, unless your GP decides that you need to be seen by the consultant more urgently.
- The appointment with the private consultant will have to be arranged by you.
Any investigations or treatment instigated by your private consultant should be done privately and NOT on the NHS. This includes the issue of prescriptions for medication advised by your private consultant.
The practice will only issue any medication recommended by your private consultant with a private prescription. This means that you pay the full cost (unsubsidised) of the medication to the Pharmacy. However, we will not charge a fee for issuing the private prescription .
Doctors prescribing medication have a clinical and medico legal responsibility to ensure that their patient is on the correct medication, and to monitor its effects. We are therefore unable to prescribe medication to patients who are being treated by doctors who are not informing the practice of the patient’s progress, or to patients who are abroad. We ask patients to understand and respect that on some occasions a GP may decline to prescribe medication for appropriate clinical or medico legal reasons.