Referral Message Problem

You can use a Referral Message Problem rather than the Referral Message Digest (RMD), however we strongly encourage you to use RMD as it is an easier and more comprehensive method of adding data to a Referral.

If you chose to use the Referral Message Problem, when you select OK on the Referral - Add screen in Vision 3, you are asked if you wish to send a referral message on deselecting the patient.

If you select Yes, when you deselect the patient and close the consultation:

• The appointment booking request is sent.

• A Referral message problem is created, called 'MSG:[Read Term for Referral]', for example 'MSG:Asthma'. Vision 3 gathers up the following data from the last 3 months for the selected patient:
  • the Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN).
  • All data entered in the current consultation, including the referral Read Term for Referral Reason.
  • Current medication, defined as all repeat issues and all acute therapy issued in the last three months.
  • Allergies and intolerances (drug and non-drug).
  • Medical History marked Priority 1.
  • The latest records for smoking, alcohol, height, weight, blood pressure.
  • All test results within the last 3 months.
  • All active problems -The Read code from the problem header is extracted and send as a 'Conditions' item.
  • All active disease registers - For example, those with a start date but no end date. These export as 'Conditions' in the same way as active problems.

For example, the current problem is ‘Bowel Cancer’ and contains the diagnosis of bowel cancer and any other data that the GP considers pertinent to this problem:

• After entering the referral:

  • There are now two current problems, ‘Bowel Cancer’ and ‘Bowel Cancer Referral Message’. The latter problem contains the referral, all other data in the consultation, summary of relevant clinical items, and all the data in the ‘Bowel Cancer’ problem.
  • The ‘Bowel Cancer’ problem contains the data it previously contained along with the referral and a link to the message digest problem.
  • Any data subsequently entered in the consultation is automatically included in both problems (although it may be removed).

• After closing the consultation:

  • The situation reverts to one current problem ‘Bowel Cancer’. The message digest problem can be accessed via the inactive problems list or directly from the link within the Bowel Cancer problem.