The hospital trust said that the number of A&G requests it receives increased ‘significantly’ during the pandemic, rising to around 2,500 A&G requests per month currently. It said: ‘The interaction can help primary care clinicians to continue to care for a patient away from hospital (in the community), or it can be converted into a referral and an outpatient appointment is organised at the hospital.’īarts is ‘working closely with patients and primary care partners to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach as it’s rolled out’, the spokesperson said. GPs use A&G to get advice from hospital colleagues on ‘the appropriateness of referrals’ as well as on treatment plans and test results, it added. They will receive a reply from the hospital specialist ‘within five days’, either with advice on how to manage the patient themselves or informing them that the hospital will organise an appointment, the trust said.

GPs will have to request the A&G function on the e-referral service (eRS) used by the trust and the request will be converted into a referral ‘where appropriate’, they added.

The specialities covered by the trial are cardiology, dermatology, diabetes, endocrine, gastroenterology, general paediatrics, gynaecology, haematology, hepatology, neurology, respiratory, rheumatology and urology.Ī Barts spokesperson told Pulse that GPs will no longer be able to make ‘direct referrals’ to these specialities and that A&G will become the ‘single point of access’ to the service. It said: ‘The change is being trialled across 13 specialities and could become the default for all of our services.’ The trial currently spans 13 specialities but if successful, the measure ‘could become the default’ for all services across the trust.īarts Health NHS Trust announced last week that ‘from this month, GPs wishing to refer a patient into some Barts Health services will first need to consult with hospital specialists’ via A&G. A major London hospital trust has launched a trial requiring GPs to use advice and guidance (A&G) services before referring patients.

How long is the expert gps trial