The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH) receives clinical referrals to our specialist, tertiary neuro-musculoskeletal services from primary, secondary and tertiary care institutions regarding both NHS and private patients.
Tertiary referrals to the RNOH from other hospitals
The RNOH uses EpicCare Link to receive tertiary referrals.
What is EpicCare Link?
EpicCare Link is a secure digital portal to RNOH’s Epic electronic health record system. With EpicCare Link you can make tertiary referrals and check admissions, waiting lists, discharges, outpatients and RNOH-ordered results.
Benefits include:
- Secure, streamlined, electronic referral forms
- Receive updates and notifications for the patient(s) you refer in real time
- Increased visibility of all referrals and triage outcomes
- Simplified, two-way communication with the team you are referring to
How can I make a referral?
To refer a patient to RNOH you will first need to register for an account on EpicCare Link. Please follow the instructions below. Most referrers will need to choose ‘RNOH Full Access’ when requesting a new account.
Once your account has been set up you can make a referral using the system.
Account types
When you click on the link to sign up for an account you will need to:
1 – Choose ‘Request New Account’
2 - Choose ‘Add a user to an existing site’
3 – You will then have six options to choose from. Because we are part of an Epic Connect model with UCLH, some of the sign-up options will be for UCLH.
We encourage all referrers pre-registering for an account to select the “RNOH Full Access” option.
If you already have access to refer to UCLH and now need RNOH access, please choose the ‘UCLH and RNOH Full Access’ option.
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RNOH Referrer For clinicians who need to send referrals in urgent circumstances to the RNOH. This option will not give you full access to the patient record.
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UCLH Referrer (Neurophysiology) For clinicians referring Neurophysiology patients to UCLH. Does not allow ordering or referrals at RNOH.
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UCLH & RNOH Full Access For clinicians who refer to UCLH and RNOH and need access to the patient record. Please note this takes several days to validate. This should not be selected when needing to refer to the RNOH in urgent circumstances. In that situation, select “RNOH Referrer”.
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RNOH Full Access For clinicians who refer to RNOH and need access to the patient record. Please note this takes several days to validate. This should not be selected when needing to refer to the RNOH in urgent circumstances. In that situation, select “RNOH Referrer”.
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Clinician Read-only access to patient information at both organisations for doctors, nurses, and AHPs. No referrals or order placement.
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Non-Clinician For admin and support staff who need to view appointment schedules and assist with site administration. No access to patient records, referrals, or orders.
Click here to go to the Epic Care Link sign up page.
If your web-browser does not support this link, please use Google Chrome and copy / paste the link https://epiccare.rnoh.nhs.uk/EpicCareLink_PRD/common/epic_login.asp.
What happens next?
After you register for an account you will receive an auto-reply email (this will come from noreply
If you have any questions, please get in touch with the helpdesk team by email on rnoh.
Urgent referrals
If you do not have an EpicCare Link account: To make an urgent referral, please follow the account registration instructions above and choose the ‘RNOH referrer’ option as your account type.
Once you have submitted your application, please email rnoh.eclink@nhs.net with details of your request and include 'urgent' in the subject line.
If you already have an EpicCare Link account: To make an urgent referral log in to your EpicCare Link account and make the referral which will be picked up by the relevant team.
EpicCare Link is only for referrals. If you require an urgent inpatient transfer, please call the switchboard on 0203 947 0100 and ask for the on-call registrar.
Regular referrals
Please follow the account registration process as above and choose ‘RNOH Full Access’ as your account type.
GPs referring to the RNOH
ERS Guide how to find the RNOH
If you are a GP referring to the RNOH please use the NHS e-Referral Service system, e-RS. Find out more about e-RS and the benefits for patients.
What is e-RS?
E-RS is the NHS electronic patient referral service used to refer patients to a consultant-led service. This is for new first outpatient appointments only. All other appointments must be booked as per the current process.
Benefits for Patients
It gives patients as much choice as possible and where practicable, empowering patients to make the booking themselves.
Improves patient convenience. e-RS allows them to plan their visit for a time that best suits their family and work life.
There is significant evidence that patients who are empowered to choose their own appointment are far more likely to attend their clinic slot.
Similarly, where patients have greater choice, there is a reduction in rearranged appointments.
e-RS provides an electronic trail of records that can be easily traced.
And, by removing paper referrals we can speed up appointment confirmation for patients at the click of a button.
Benefits for the Trust
Patient choice and better control
Safety: referral visibility and audit trail
Operational: easier referral trail, reduction in the number of enquires
Finically: reduced DNA’s and cancellations- data from previous electronic booking pilots show that when patients are given the choice of date and time for their appointment they are more likely to attend. This leads to fewer wasted appointments and helps to improve the efficiency of outpatient clinics
What happens when a patient is referred electronically using e-RS?
Where the service is ‘directly bookable’ patients will have the ability to book into an available appointment (as a provisional appointment) that is convenient for them to attend. The referral will be reviewed (triaged) by the relevant consultant and will be accepted, rejected or referred on (to another RNOH colleague). The outcome of the review will be communicated to the GP and the patient. For rejected referrals, this will mean that the provisional appointment is cancelled and for accepted referrals, it will mean that the provisional appointment is confirmed.
For ‘indirectly bookable’ services, patients will be given a paper by the GP which should contain a UBRN, passcode and a telephone number to call to activate the referral. It is only once the patient calls the RNOH, that the RNOH will have access to the referral information on e-RS. The referral will be passed to the relevant consultant to review and a decision to accept or reject will be made and the patient and GP notified accordingly.
What happened if there are no appointments?
There may be instances where a patient cannot select an appointment (for directly bookable services) when attempting to book the appointment. When this happens, practices or patients should always choose the ‘Defer to Providers’ option. These are known as 'Appointment Slot Issues' and are caused because there are no available slots for the service the patient is being referred to.
Appointment Slot Issues (ASIs) and Defer to the provider
When there is no capacity available for a service on e-RS and referring GPs, use the 'Defer to Provider' option, an Appointment Slot Issue is created. The service will manage the Appointment Slot Issue worklist, create capacity for the Appointment Slot Issue and then book the patient an appointment via e-RS when there is capacity available.
Sarcoma clinics are also supported by the NHS e-Referral Service. Please ensure that the suspected sarcoma referral form is used for all 2WW referrals. This form can be found here Contact Details for GPs and Pan-London & South East Sarcoma Network Referral Form.
Booking for NHS e-referral service appointment
Patients can book, change or cancel their appointment online and by phone.
To book or amend an appointment online, please visit: NHS e-Referral Service
To book or amend an appointment by phone, please contact the national e-Referral Service appointment line: 0345 6088 888 or 0845 850 2250 for their textphone service.
NHS e-referral contact times
Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm
Weekends and bank holidays: 8am to 4pm
e-RS appointment line: 0345 6088 888
Text phone service: 0845 850 2250
Please use the reference number and password from the patient appointment request letter, you will need to have this in front of you to book an appointment.
Key Contacts
If you have any concerns or queries about e-RS / problems finding clinics/ paper switch-off process, please contact:
Amanda Peel, Elective Access Manager
Tel: 020 8385 3058
Elective Access Management Team at rnoh.
Your information
Information included in these forms is processed in line with our Patient Privacy Policy. Patient Information Data is submitted via an encrypted internet connection (HTTPS) and stored in the site database; any identifiable PID is stored encrypted in the database. The encryption key is stored outside of the root of the website. Should the referrer wish to withdraw a referral at any time, either because this was submitted in error or at the patient's request, contact should be made with the relevant team detailed on the referral form who will arrange for the information to be removed in line with the Patient Privacy Policy.