BNSSG Referral Service
Overview
The BNSSG Referral Service has been developed by the BNSSG ICB for and on behalf of, GP Practices in Bristol and North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It has been developed as a result of the findings of the Bristol Referral Service and North Somerset Referral Support Service’s review and on the basis of national evidence about the effectiveness of referral services.
The service’s main purpose is to support patients and primary care to enable patients to receive the right care by the right person at the right time and place with minimum delays. The service outcomes include:
- Patients having a better experience of being supported with making a choice about their provider, receiving the right help to navigate the system.
- GPs have easier access to up to date information on caring for their patients. This includes clinical information and also choice support options. Information on referral advice and guidance and pathways can be found on Remedy: https://remedy.bnssgccg.nhs.uk
- Better information on referrals from a larger number of practices which will inform commissioning decisions and education for clinicians.
- Better use of the existing resources that have been allocated to planned care.
- Commissioners able to respond to requests from providers for support in managing demand in a more timely way.
- Commissioners will also be able to ensure that efforts are focused on priority areas.
Referral advice and template
BNSSG Referral Service – Tel: 0117 900 2566
The BNSSG Referral Service is based at 360 Bristol - Three Six Zero, Marlborough Street in Bristol (however, the team is mainly working remotely) 5 days a week, Mon – Fri, 8:30am to 5:00pm.
Email us at BNSSG.Referral.Service@nhs.net
Referral Template
The Referral Service recommend the use of a standard ICB BNSSG Standard Referral Form Template (word version) which can be embedded into practice EMIS systems and will prepopulate with information that is helpful for the triage team and for providers. This information can help improve the patient pathway and is particularly helpful for surgical specialties to help avoid the risk of patients having their treatment cancelled or delayed.
Further advice on pre-operation criteria can be found on the Pre-operative Assessment page.
Useful Guides
Service Guide (link to new location) - please be advised that the Service Guide now has its own page on Remedy to simplify the process of accessing it.
BNSSG GP Practice Guidance - this operational guidance explains how the referral service works and supports practices.
Patient Information Leaflet
The Referral Service have produced a Patient Information leaflet which can be printed and given to patients which explains the referral process and what happens next.
Arabic Patient Information Leaflet
Bengali Patient Information Leaflet
Polish Patient Information Leaflet
Punjabi Patient Information Leaflet
Romanian Patient Information Leaflet
Somali Patient Information Leaflet
Urdu Patient Information Leaflet
BNSSG Patient Transport Leaflet
The patient transport service (PTS) provides planned, non-emergency transport for eligible Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire patients to and from NHS hospitals and clinics, including outpatient departments, inter-hospital transfers, renal dialysis, oncology centres and your home.
It is only available for eligible patients for medical reasons. See the patient leaflet for details.
BNSSG Patient Transport Leaflet
BNSSG Policy Development Team
The BNSSG Policy Development team are responsible for any of the funding policy amendments or the composing of new funding policies. The referral service regularly receive feedback from GP practices about funding policies, or come across problems with funding policies when applying them. The policy team are happy for issues to be sent directly to their email address: