Duties of the Referrer

Referrers have a duty to request the most appropriate diagnostic examination for the patient and to protect the patient from unnecessary exposure to ionising radiation. To facilitate this, appropriate referral criteria, supplemented by local guidelines as necessary will be provided for the referrer, together with information on the dose/risk likely to be incurred. Referrers undertake to comply with best practice and the Trust’s referral criteria.

The referrer must supply:

• Sufficient demographic information to unambiguously identify the patient;
• Appropriate clinical information to allow the practitioner to ensure there will be net benefit to the patient from the exposure and hence be clinically justified
• A signature and a legibly printed name and contact point.

Failure to supply sufficient information will mean that the request will be refused or at best returned to the referrer for more information. This must be minimised as it is likely to cause delay to the patient concerned.

Repeated failure to supply sufficient information, or the completion of unauthorised or inappropriate referrals will be treated as clinical risk incidents.