Retinal Vein Occlusion

Guidelines for retinal vein occlusions referrals

All referrals for retinal vein occlusions should be made directly to the referral booking service (RBS) at LTHT, requesting a Medical Retinal review in the title of the referral to leedsth-tr.GP-referrals@nhs.net. This is the same email as the routine adult referral address but adding the above in the title will ensure it is triaged correctly.

• CRVO with/without macular oedema, whatever the vision should be seen within 2 weeks.

• BRVO with good vision (with/without macular oedema) should be see within 4-6 weeks.
• BRVO with poor vision due to macular oedema should be seen within 2-3 weeks. For other causes of poor vision, please act accordingly to the cause.

Whatever the pathway, the above timelines should be adhered to, hence sending patients via the GP only, may not be the best way as it may cause unnecessary delay.

In all cases, it is good practice to inform the GP to check the patient’s cardiovascular risk factors, BP, diabetes, etc. Please also inform that you have made the onward referral to secondary care.

Please include any OCT/fundus images with your e-referral and your email within the body of the referral letter. This will be extremely helpful in triaging your patient and providing feedback directly to you. Unfortunately, just sending the referrals via your email address will not secure any feedback as the e-referrals letters are send separately to the next mail box for triaging.