What we’ll do when a referral or self-referral is made
- Summary
- When a referral or self-referral does and doesn’t need to be made
- What we’ll do when a referral or self-referral is made
If we receive a referral or self-referral that solely relates to your health condition, we need to decide whether the information suggests a risk to patients.
Provisional enquiries
Sometimes we may need more information to establish whether a doctor’s health condition is a risk to patient safety. In these cases, we'll carry out a provisional enquiry to decide if a full investigation is necessary.
Provisional enquiries can include us checking whether you are working or intending to work, and asking for your consent for us to get information from your:
- treating doctor(s) to check you are seeking and following treatment and advice to manage any patient safety risks, or where appropriate
- employer, including the occupational health department, to check that local safeguards are in place to protect patients.
Based on this information, if there is no risk to patients, we won't need to carry out a full investigation.
How long do provisional enquiries usually take?
The length of time a provisional enquiry takes to complete will depend on how quickly we receive the information we need to make a decision.
We try to complete our provisional enquiries within three months to assess if we need to carry out a full investigation. But we’ll let you know if we’re unable to complete it within our usual timeframes.
