Referrals in four places
An orthodontic practice gets most of its patients from general dental practitioners. Referrals come through a regional referral system, a secure email, a letter in the post, and sometimes a parent ringing because their dentist told them to. Each referral needs to be read, checked for missing information such as radiographs or photographs, logged, and turned into a new patient assessment appointment or a waiting list place.
When the team is busy with bond-ups and adjustments, the referral pile waits. The family hears nothing. The GDP hears nothing. Sometimes the parent rings the GDP, who rings you.
Referrals that arrive with gaps are the ones most likely to stall: a missing radiograph, an unclear reason for referral, a parent contact number that does not work. They need a follow-up, and follow-ups are the first thing to slip.
Why referral intake backs up
- Each route has its own inbox or tray, checked by different people.
- Details have to be typed into the practice management system by hand.
- Referrals missing information are set aside and forgotten.
- Nobody acknowledges the GDP routinely.
- The same child can be referred twice, by two routes, and booked twice.
What a slow referral costs
Families wait longer and some go elsewhere. The referring dentist forms a view about your practice from the silence, and GDPs are the people who send you most of your work. Staff time goes on answering chaser calls. Duplicates waste appointment slots.
Duplicates cause their own trouble. A child referred once by letter and again through the portal can end up with two assessment appointments or two waiting list entries. Finding them later means combing through the list by name and date of birth.
The referral intake we build
- Every route is collected in one place: emails and attachments from your referrals address, exports or notifications from the referral system where available, scanned post and a short form for phone referrals.
- Each referral is read and the patient, parent contact, referring practice and dentist, and referral reason category are extracted, with a person confirming anything uncertain.
- Checks run for missing items your practice requires, such as radiographs, and for possible duplicates of existing patients or referrals.
- Incomplete referrals prompt a request to the referring practice for the missing items, tracked until they arrive.
- Complete referrals are acknowledged to the GDP and to the family in your wording, with what happens next.
- Cases join a booking list ordered by your rules, and the patient record is created in your practice management system where it allows.
| Route | Today | With one intake |
|---|---|---|
| Referral system | Checked when someone has time | Collected automatically where possible |
| Shared inbox | Read and logged | |
| Post | Tray on the desk | Scanned and logged |
| Parent phone call | Note on paper | Short form, then confirmed with GDP |
Clinical triage, eligibility and priority are decided by your clinicians. The intake organises the paperwork around their decisions.
A referral pile that stays small
Every referral is logged the day it arrives. Referrers and families are acknowledged. Missing information is chased while it is fresh. Reception books from an ordered list instead of a pile of paper. And the practice can see how many referrals are waiting and for how long.
Is this your referral inbox?
- Referrals arrive by several routes and wait to be processed.
- GDPs and parents chase you for updates.
- Referrals missing information are set aside and forgotten.
- You have found duplicate referrals for the same child.