Last review date 03/02/2023

Ardens can support the referral process including writing, sending and safety netting the referral to ensure the patient is seen in an appropriate and timely manner. Please also see the Cancer Overview support article for other cancer resources available.

On recognising a suspected cancer, the following events should occur.

1. Inform the patient of their referral and check their understanding.

2. Give the patient a Safety Netting Letter before they leave the appointment which is available directly on the general consultation template, along with the suspected cancer templates and the communications referral template.

3. Write the referral letter by clicking the 'Orange Arrow' icon under the patient's name and selecting the referral form of your choice. All of the relevant information from the patient record and consultation should be merged on to this referral form automatically.

4. Send the referral on e-RS either directly yourself or task your administrative team to do this on your behalf, using the correct ‘fast track referral’ code.

5. Run the safety net reports on a regular basis and follow-up as required. Go to Clinical Reporting > Ardens > Conditions | Cancer > Alerts and here you will find some reports that identify patients who may need following up. There are also some other useful follow-up reports for FIT tests.

To ensure that these reports do not include patients unnecessarily, make sure your Document Processing team add the specific 'Seen in clinic' SNOMED code. For example, if they had a fast track referral for lung cancer' and are then seen in clinic, make sure you add the corresponding ‘Seen in fast track suspected lung cancer clinic’.

TIP: Create a batch report for these two reports so that a member of your team (or group) get sent this as a daily task

TIP: If you are not going to do the referral immediately, send yourself an urgent task to remind you to do this after your surgery