1) The New Cambridgeshire referral form. We would like to encourage you to use this whenever possible instead of the GOS 18. It can be loaded onto your computer.

Melanie Hingorani and Doug Newman have been heavily involved in developing this form and are particularly keen to encourage its use.

It has been set up so that you can type onto it and print it off. We enclose several versions, one of which should be compatible with your software! A good test is whether you can tick the tick boxes!

If you do not use a computer in your practice please print off copies and write on them. We are trying to encourage typing whereever possible to help hospital staff. One of the main drivers for a new referral form is to try and increase the number of letters you get back from consultants.

The new form makes it very clear who the referring optom is, provided it is filled in clearly by you.

We hope to pilot direct referral, from the Optometrist into hospital for ALL referrals into Hinchingbrooke, in the second half of this year (as has successfully been done in Suffolk).

Hopefully this will be rolled out to Addenbrookes too before long!

You will find guidelines for suggested urgency of referrals. Please try to put a provisional diagnosis in the appropriate box whereever possible.

Direct referral, from the Optometrist into hospital for ALL referrals into Hinchingbrooke, in the second half of this year (as has successfully been done in Suffolk).

Hopefully this will be rolled out to Addenbrookes too before long!

You will find guidelines for suggested urgency of referrals. Please try to put a provisional diagnosis in the appropriate box whereever possible.

Duration of onset of any symptoms is particularly valuable to the hospital when they are triaging the referral into the correct clinic, at the correct level of urgency. This is VERY important for possible wet AMD and new floaters/flashes.

Until we have direct referral, we suggest that you send 2 copies to the GP so that they can forward one onto the eye dept.

If you are directly referring to the hospital (once this has been officially agreed with the GPs, PCT and relevant hospital) then you may send 1 copy direct to the hospital, of the patients choice, and one to the GP explaining that a direct referral has been made. Ie for information only.

2) The guidelines for direct cataract referral are also downloadable.

These have been draw up by Hinchingbrooke but are the same for Addenbrookes . We are trying to arrange a long overdue update for Optometrists directly referring cataracts into Addenbrookes.