Dear colleague,
We hope you enjoyed the last of the summer as we now start the transition into autumn. Below are your updates for September.
Hepatology advice and guidance at Northumbria
Please note hepatology is a different speciality from gastroenterology, we have a dedicated hepatology service which is specific to liver issues â€" eg Non acutely Deranged LFT and Significant NAFLD (F4 of Fibroscan) and Cirrhosis
Please can you avoid sending gastroenterology requests to this service and vice versa
Suspect a TIA - please refer firect to Brainsafe and don't use advice and guidance
We have identified a number of patients with suspected TIA being submitted to the Brainsafe service via the Advice and Guidance (A&G) pathway. As A&G requests are not monitored or actioned with the same urgency as direct referrals, this creates a risk of delay in assessment and treatment for patients with time-critical conditions.
To ensure patients receive timely assessment in line with national standards, all suspected TIA cases should be referred directly through the urgent TIA referral pathway and not via A&G. We would be grateful if practices could share this reminder with both clinical and administrative staff involved in referral processing to help prevent avoidable delays and potential patient safety incidents.
Eligibility criteria for wheelchair services
There has been an important change to the eligibility criteria for paediatric referrals to wheelchair services.
To ensure referrals can be appropriately triaged and assessed, please ensure that the following criteria are met:
Eligibility Criteria:
- Long-term wheelchair users.
- Complete referrals only.
- Referrals must be completed by a GP or other appropriate Health Care Professional.
- If the referral is for a powered wheelchair this should be for indoor and outdoor use (We do not provide powered wheelchairs for outdoor use only).
- Children over 5 years of age who have an impaired ability to walk. (Children under 5 years of age will be considered where they have very specific postural or medical support needs).
Paediatric referrals will also now be completed on a Paediatric specific referral form. This can be requested via our email wheelchairservices.NLD@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk currently and will be uploaded on our website within a few weeks.
Additional information for children's referrals:
For children without postural needs, further information will be required in the form of a risk assessment form (template provided by Northumbria Wheelchair service via e-mail and in a few weeks via our website).
Providing comprehensive and relevant information at the point of referral will help us to assess eligibility and progress referrals as efficiently as possible.
We would be grateful if you could ensure that all relevant colleagues are aware of these updated requirements.
Thank you for your continued support and collaboration.
GP Excellence Through Collaboration
We’re pleased to share the date of our next GP Excellence Through Collaboration Event which will be held on Wednesday 11 November 2026 at Northumbria Health and Care Academy in Cramlington.
Once again this will be an all-day event and GPs from across the region are invited to attend to learn about important updates from secondary care.
We will share more information soon about registering for this event.
