Can I refer myself to a hospital consultant?
Short answer is .. no, not in the UK. In the NHS, for most conditions, your GP is your first point of contact. In this way they are gatekeeper of the NHS.
Your GP will decide whether you need to see a hospital consultant (specialist) or not. Many conditions are managed and treated by your GP without the need for you to see a specialist.
You may need investigations before a referral is considered, or a trial of treatment. There are also other referral pathways GPs can use. Hospitals also have set criteria on what conditions can be referred and when. For example, there is list of low priority procedures (LPPs) for conditions where certain criteria have to be met before the hospital will accept a referral.
Some other health professionals can also refer
They include physiotherapists, physicians associates (PAs), advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) and nurse practitioners.
Most GPs will refer less than 5% of the patients they see every day. So for a typical busy medium-sized practice – where there are a minimum of 200-ish face-to-face or virtual contacts per day (yes, alot!) – about 10 will be referred to a hospital.
Other countries
Other countries have different systems and patients can refer themselves to hospital consultants. It is complicated, and there are pros and cons to the UK’s system.
Remember
Many conditions get better either with simple treatment, or of their own accord, and do not need to be sent to a specialist.
Summary
We have discussed can I refer myself to a hospital consultant. You cannot, usually, sorry. You need to go via your GP.
