What is NHS choose and book advice and guidance (A&G)?
Advice and Guidance (A&G) allows a GP in the NHS to seek email advice from a specialist hospital consultant.
How does NHS A&G work?
The GP is able to attach documents to the advice request, which may include diagnostic results, scanned images (e.g. ECGs) or previous correspondence related to the patient.
The consultant is then able to review the request (along with any attachments that may have been added); and suggest a proposed treatment plan, or links to external documents and websites, to the GP.
What is A&G used for?
The reasons why a GP may wish to seek Advice and Guidance include:
- Asking a hospital specialist consultant for their advice – on a treatment plan and/or the ongoing management of a patient
- Asking for advice regarding a patient’s test results
- Seeking advice on the appropriateness of a referral – for their patient (e.g. whether to refer, or what the most appropriate alternative care pathway might be). The GP may not know whether to refer you or not. This is a way they can ask
- Identifying the most appropriate service to refer a patient to – and how to find
that service.
Summary
We have described what is NHS choose and book advice and guidance (A&G). We hope it has been helpful.
