Russells Hall accept urgent referrals

Russells Hall Hospital (RHH) Eye Department, Ground floor, north wing, Pensnett Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 2HQ

To confirm the condition you suspect should be referred urgently please consult the College of Optometrists guide to urgency of referrals.

EeRS is now available for referrals to Russells Hall, and the Urgent Pathway can be accessed via that route. If you haven’t yet signed up please see this page. Otherwise follow the instructions below:

Please also consult Part 2, Urgency of Referral Guidelines by condition in the Dudley Referral Guidelines for Optometrists, for the appropriate referral destination as Russells Hall does not manage all Urgent Conditions.

For Russells Hall Urgent referrals are sent to the Urgent Referral Centre (URC) for Triage.

Urgent referrals must be sent to the GP practice on the Dudley Urgent Referral form:

Dudley-Urgent-Referral-form-2020  (editable word document)

Dudley-Urgent-Referral-form-2020 (pdf)

they are then entered on to the Electronic Referral Service by the GP practice for sending to the URC.

Please consult the clinical Management Guidelines in the Dudley Referral Guidelines (see above) and ensure as much information as possible is entered onto the urgent referral form to ensure appropriate management.

1) Complete the Dudley Urgent Referral form with the patient present and ensure all aspects of history and symptoms are recorded.

2) Give the Urgent Referral Form to the patient and instruct the patient to take it immediately to their GP surgery and request the practice to transmit the form that day to the URC.

N.B. the ERS entry form is likely to be completed by a non-medical member of staff so the Optometrist should ensure any writing on the form is clearly legible.

3) The URC will Triage and contact the patient in due course (usually that day) to arrange an appointment in a timescale recommended by the consultant based on the information provided on the form.

For Optometrists who have NHSMail accounts the Urgent Referral Form can be sent to the GP via NHSMail. Always contact the GP practice first to ensure the correct NHSMail address for the GP practice.

N.B. Optometrists must not cause undue concerns for patients by indicating a timescale for their appointment as this will be decided by the consultant based on the information on the referral.

In case of queries related to a referral already made please ring 01384456111 ext 3645 (Lisa or Summer)