If you are referred by GP, a referral letter will be promptly sent, usually the same day. For most hospital appointments, this is achieved by emailing a referral letter to a “Referral Support Team” who process the referral usually within 1 day, though they allow up to 5 days for routine referrals, and 1 day for urgent referrals. They do this using a “Choose and Book” system and will be default quickly process your referral to the most local service.

If you know for certain you’ve been referred to Worthing, Southlands or St. Richards, their appointment call centre is reachable on: 01273 446067

You can call the Referral Support Team about your referral 01903 708403

• To express a preference on where you are referred e.g. to another part of the country. Note some services restrict access by postcode.
• To confirm your referral was received and processed
• To give you an idea of the waiting times (published 3 to 4 times per year only).
• To advise you of the telephone number of the appointment centre for your referral, should you need additional details (double check you have definitely been appointed, details of what list you’ve been appointed to)
• They cannot change the urgency of your referral.

For Musculoskeletal (MSK) Referrals:

• GPs in Sussex are not allowed to refer directly to orthopaedics or rheumatology. All referrals for these specialities must go to MSK. Similarly, any musculoskeletal problems needing expert physio assessment go to MSK.
• The MSK team will review your referral that was emailed to them by the GP and decide if 1) They will see you 2) They will forward your referral to the Referral Support Team to direct them to send it to orthopaedics or rheumatology.
• The MSK team can be contacted on 01903 708389 to ask them about the outcome of your referral triage. If they have send it to the Referral Support Team, you can call them (see above) for an update. If they have appointed you to see MSK, they can tell you where you are on the waiting list. Please note these appointments (to see MSK – NOT for orthopaedics or rheumatology) are in Bognor Regis.

Please note the specialty secretaries are generally not the correct point of contact for these queries, which are handled by a dedicated team. Cornerways are also generally not updated with this information. NHS Digital is developing a platform where in the future you should be able to see this information ‘live’.