Under the new Referral Facilitation Service if we do not state on our referral letter where you would like to be seen the referral centre are obliged to refer you within a 35 mile radius of your home address.  Please let the GP or Nurse Practitioner know where you would like to be seen or if you have a particular consultant in mind please also let us know this as well. 

The new scheme also means that you as the patient need to ring the central referral centre on the Freephone number 0808 169 7905 should you have any queries regarding your referral, should you wish to cancel or change an appointment, or should you just wish to chase up your appointment. 

All communication will be sent to you direct from this point, you will no longer receive your appointment details from the surgery.  However, we are still here to help you and please contact Tracey Cullington or Tracey Atter should you require help.

FREEPHONE NUMBER 0808 169 7905

Referrals

Once a referral has been directed to our referral facilitator, it goes out of the Practice control.  Any queries about the appointment, the type of appointment you have received or the wait for your appointment need to be directed to the hospital.

All referrals are reviewed by a consultant when they reach the hospital and are then triaged, this does mean that even if your referral has been sent as urgent it could be changed to routine if the consultant deems fit. This is beyond our control.

It is the patient’s responsibility to chase their own hospital appointments, once the referral has left the surgery and been accepted by the hospital it is out of the surgery’s control and responsibility.

Want to expedite your appointment?

As of June 2025, ULHT advised that GP surgeries are not to send expedite letters as they do not usually act on these and the patient is to contact the hospital appointments team themselves to request an appointment. 

For contact details please see this website: https://www.ulh.nhs.uk/patients/outpatients/ive-been-referred-to-ulht-for-an-outpatient-appointment-what-happens-next/contacting-your-outpatient-appointment-booking-team/

If you have been referred outside of Lincolnshire we can still send expedite letters if there is a clinical need.  

Waiting for a Hospital Appointment or Treatment?

We understand that waiting for hospital care can be really difficult, especially if you're in pain or worried about your health.

You can check the average waiting times for your local hospital by visiting: www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk

Further information

If you want any further information on this please visit the Lincolnshire LMC website: https://www.lincslmc.co.uk/waiting-for-hospital-care-expedite-letters-2/