Emergency Referrals – That Day – Telephone Hospital
Please consult Part 2 of Dudley Referral Guidelines for Optoms to ensure you send referrals with the correct urgency and to the correct destination as Russells Hall does not manage all Emergency Conditions.
The local hospitals managing emergency eye referrals are:
1 Russells Hall Hospital (RHH) Eye Department, Ground floor, north wing, Pensnett Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 2HQ
Contact the eye casualty triage in the Emergency Referral Clinic; Tel 01384 456111 ask for Ophthalmic Triage Bleep or X 3633. Discuss your findings and follow advice.
Give the patient a completed Urgent referral form (or CUES referral form) to take to the Urgent Referral Centre (URC) (can also be Faxed to 01384 244560). Send a report of your actions to their GP
NB. There is no walk in Eye Casualty Service at Russells Hall. If this is required direct the patient to BMEC or Wolverhampton.
You should also be aware that there is no VR consultant at Russells Hall so if you suspect a retinal detachment you should strongly consider referring elsewhere.
Eye Triage in the Emergency Referral Clinic is available weekdays 9am to 4pm
2 Birmingham & Midland Eye Centre (BMEC), City Hospital, Dudley Road, Birmingham B18 7QH
Contact the eye casualty triage nurse on: 0121 507 4440. The triage nurse will discuss with you whether the patient should be sent immediately or next day and an appointment time will be offered to the patient. You should give the patient a short written referral
letter for them to present on arrival in the eye casualty department. Send a report of your actions to their GP.
Casualty is open Monday to Friday 09.00 until 19.00 – Saturday 09.00 until 18.00. Outside these hours patients should attend their local hospital casualty department.
3 Wolverhampton Eye Casualty at Emergency Referral Unit, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton Road, Wolverhampton, WV10 0QP
Emergency – Call Wolverhampton Eye Hospital (01902 695800) and discuss findings.
Send patient with referral form or a completed MECS referral form or Fax to 01902 695842 or Email to rwh-tr.optometry-referrals@nhs.net. Send a report of your actions to their GP
A walk in service is available weekdays 8am-5pm and weekends 8am-4pm
Please follow the Wolverhampton Protocol at http://wolvesloc.net/practitioners/referral-guidelines/
Urgent Referrals Pathway
Please 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 BMEC or Wolverhampton please contact them following the Emergency guidance.
For Russells Hall Urgent referrals are sent to the Urgent Referral Centre (URC) for Triage.
EeRS is now available for Dudley Optometrists referring 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:
Urgent referrals must be sent to the GP practice on the Dudley Urgent Referral form(click here) 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 for Optoms(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.
Outcomes from the Referral will be sent to the GP and the patient, so if the Optometrist requires feedback it is recommended to ask the patient to share their letter.
The CUES service has its own Urgent Referral Pathway