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Making a Referral

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General Practitioners

All health professionals referring to CHEC services from primary care should use the NHS e-Referral service where available. 

As well as offering a simplified and integrated booking service, the NHS e-Referral Service ensures a seamless patient pathway and experience. For referrers, this includes a safe, secure, and reliable system, available 24/7, 365 days per year. This supports patients with choosing their preferred treatment provider and enables referrers an easy and reliable method of identifying appropriate services, helps to filter provider services by shortest waiting times, and helps optimise the clinical suitability of referrals. 

Where the e-referral service is not available, we accept written referrals by secure email, or post, as below: 

Secure Email – Referrals: c.hec@nhs.net

By Post: CHEC Referrals Centre, 1-6 Star Building, Caxton Road, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9WT

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Optometrist Referrals

If referring through Primary Eyecare Services Opera, select CHEC from the drop-down menu. In the event that CHEC is not available, inform us and report the issue via the Opera Blue Button. If CHEC is not available, but the patient has expressed their choice as CHEC, please state this on the referral and share with us via secure email on c.hec@nhs.net.

Please note – emails are only secure/confidential if shared from an NHS Mail address. All optometrists are able to apply for an NHS email – please visit the NHS registration route for optometrists.

We also collaborate with other referral platforms across England; contact us for assistance on engagement@chec.uk.

Direct Referrals via CHEC Referral Portal – In some areas, Optometrists are able to refer directly to CHEC via our secure Electronic Patient Record Optometrist portal. If your practice is eligible to refer via our portal, please contact engagement@chec.uk to set your practice up.

Many commissioning bodies have introduced platforms for e-ErS to direct referrals through e-RS in-practice. Contact engagement@chec.uk for more information about your region and how to refer to CHEC.

For optometrists, the secure CHEC portal is the recommended method for referrals, ensuring data governance. Our engagement team can set this up, providing an email receipt upon referral confirmation.

The process depends on your location, with Glaucoma/IOP referral refinement schemes available in select UK areas. For more information, contact our engagement team: engagement@chec.uk


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