For emergency and urgent referrals you must call the Spinal Surgical department directly on 0203 947 0100 as well as submitting the Pathpoint referral form through this 'PATHPOINT' link.

From November 2022, the RNOH Spinal Surgical service committed to using ‘PATHPOINT’, an electronic referral and pathway management system, for all Consultant-led referrals from secondary and tertiary care organisations.

General Practitioners should continue to refer to RNOH using the UK Electronic Referral System (ERS)- please see below.

PATHPOINT offers significant benefits to referrers:

·  Secure, streamlined, electronic referral forms

·  Receive updates and notifications in real time

·  Increased visibility of all referrals and triage outcomes

There are two spinal referral forms to choose from, the ‘emergency spinal referral form’ should be used for emergency non-oncological. The trauma and infection ‘spinal oncology form’ must be completed for patients with MSCC and spinal tumour.

To submit a referral to the Surgical Spinal unit please access the 'PATHPOINT' link (within your Secure hospital network) and follow the steps below:

1.    Register with your personal NHS email address for a PATHPOINT account to manage your referral/s

2.    Login to your account with your credentials by clicking the 'PATHPOINT' link

3.    Input your referring organisation, and patient PID details

4.    Click the drop down list of referral pathway forms and select the correct referral (please see above):

“Tertiary emergency spine referral” or “Tertiary spine oncology referral”

Then click "Go to referral form" to launch the form

5.    Fill in all fields of the correct referral form Tertiary emergency spine referral form or the Tertiary spine oncology referral form and click "Save Tertiary referral" to submit

NB: You will receive notification emails to your NHS email account from PATHPOINT from the Spinal Surgical unit with updates about the status of your referral if further information is required.

To give your feedback, or for any further questions, please email the relevant contact below:

PATHPOINT Technical Support: support@openmedical.co.uk

Feedback to RNOH Project Team: rnoh.communicationsdept@nhs.net

For further information on the PATHPOINT system, please click here

Referrals are accepted from GPs and consultants. If you are a GP referring to the RNOH please use the NHS e-Referral Service system, e-RS.

This process is NOT for private patients.