What do I do if I have a patient for who requires their scan urgently because they need treatment before a specific date (i.e. a patient on the 62 day treatment pathway)?
A. Referrers should indicate the following in the box on the referral form under the inpatient information (bottom right): “Urgent treatment patient – book into next available local slot.” This is for “two week wait patients” – we will book into the first available local slot – if this is more than five days, we will offer a non local slot and if the patient doesn’t accept it we will inform the agreed trust contact of the date of the rejected appointment. Alternative arrangements can then be made. This might include discussion on moving less urgent patients or arranging a longstop appointment. If there is a deadline to be met in returning results to an MDT or booking theatre, this can be indicated, however, we cannot guarantee to meet deadlines prior to seven working days from acceptance of the referral.
