Receiving referrals

Before you can receive referrals:

• Your organisation must be verified.

• Your organisation must have a plan set up in Settings → Plan & usage.

Optometrists can only find and refer to you once both are in place.

Where new referrals arrive

All referrals sent to your organisation appear on the Referrals page. You'll find it in the menu under Requests.

The number next to Referrals in the menu shows how many referrals are waiting for a decision. On Home, the Needs action section shows the same number under Incoming referrals.

How the list works

Referrals waiting for a decision are grouped by priority: Emergency, Suspected Cancer, Urgent, Routine and No priority given.

Each row shows:

• The patient's name and age

• Who sent it, for example "From" followed by the practice name

• How long ago it arrived. A referral is marked as late: after 1 day for Emergency, 5 days for Suspected Cancer, 7 days for Urgent and 28 days for Routine.

You can search by patient name, reference or organisation. You can also sort by Priority or Newest.

Referrals you've already decided on move to the Triaged section at the bottom of the list. They stay there for 30 days. To find an older referral, search for it or open the patient's record.

Email alerts

We email your organisation's owners and admins when an Urgent, Suspected Cancer or Emergency referral arrives. If the referrer chose a specific clinician, we email them too.

We don't send an email for Routine referrals. Check the Referrals page regularly, or turn on a daily or weekly summary email.

To change your email alerts:

1. Go to Settings → Communications.

2. Under Admin notifications, turn on or off:

   • Immediate non-routine alerts: on by default

   • Daily summary: off by default

   • Weekly summary: off by default

Reviewing a referral

Select a referral in the list to open it. You can also click Open next to go to the next one waiting.

The referral shows:

• The patient's details: name, date of birth, postcode, NHS number and contact details

• A summary: priority, condition, which eye, how long the patient has had symptoms, patient consent, and who it's addressed to

• From the referrer: any notes the referrer added

• Vision and pressures: the results the referrer recorded

• Patient questionnaire: the patient's answers, if they were sent one

• Supporting documents: letters, images or other files sent with the referral. Click a file to preview it.

Deciding on a referral

At the top of the referral there are three buttons: Accept, Decline and Transfer. Each one opens a short form. Fill it in and click Submit.

If you need to stop part-way, click Save draft & close. A banner on the referral lets you or a colleague Resume later. To cancel, click Discard. Nothing is recorded.

Accept

Accept the referral when your organisation will see the patient.

1. Click Accept.

2. Choose the type of booking needed: Face to face appointment, Telephone appointment, Virtual review or List directly for surgery.

3. Confirm the priority and which eye.

4. Add any notes or documents, if you want to.

5. Click Submit.

Decline

Decline the referral when your organisation won't see the patient.

1. Click Decline.

2. Choose a reason: Declined with advice and guidance, Not enough clinical information to triage, Duplicate referral or Other.

3. Add notes to explain your decision. The referrer can see the reason on the referral.

4. Click Submit.

Transfer

Transfer the referral when another organisation on Lutra Connect should see the patient.

1. Click Transfer.

2. Choose the organisation to transfer it to.

3. Add notes, if you want to.

4. Click Submit.

Once you transfer a referral, it leaves your list and your organisation can no longer see it. The referrer can see who it's with now.

We don't notify the new organisation, so you may want to contact them to let them know.

Setting a status

You can add a status to show where the patient is in their care. The referrer can see it too.

Open the referral, click the ⋯ menu and choose Set status. The options are:

• Awaiting Patient

• Patient Not Interested

• Awaiting Clinic Appointment

• Consultation Booked

• Pending Surgery

• Surgery Booked

• Surgery Completed

After your decision

What the referrer is told

• Accepted: the referrer gets a notification in Lutra Connect.

• Declined: the referrer gets a notification in Lutra Connect, and their owners and admins get an email. They can see your reason on the referral.

• Transferred: the referrer isn't notified, but the referral shows who it's with now.

Next steps after accepting

Once you accept a referral, it moves to the Triaged section of your list. You can then carry on with the patient's care from their record.

Open the patient's record to start the next step, such as a Consultation or Surgery. For cataract patients you can also start a Cat-PROM5 or PREMs measure.

When you add consultation or surgery notes, we share them with the referrer automatically.

Charges

If your plan charges per referral, you're only charged when you accept a referral. Declining or transferring a referral is free.

Other ways referrals can arrive

• Your public referral page: optometrists who don't use Lutra Connect can refer to you through an online form. These referrals appear on the Referrals page marked Unchecked. Click Check and start to match the patient and turn it into a referral you can triage, or Dismiss if it isn't actionable.

• Referral letters: if you receive a referral by post or email, upload it to the AI Assistant. It reads the letter and creates the referral for you to check.