Patients have a right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of referral or request an offer of alternative providers that can start their treatment sooner. The NHS must take all reasonable steps to meet patients’ requests.
The maximum waiting times legislation requires commissioners to consider the ‘Referral to treatment consultant-led waiting times rules suite’. The rules suite includes:
guidance on reviewing the pathways of patients who have waited longer than 18 weeks before starting their treatment
guidance on clinical exceptions to the NHS Constitution right to access services within maximum waiting times
On 1 October 2015, the National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2015 came into effect, removing the provision for a patient pause. The October 2022 rules suite reflects this change.
The NHS will want to maintain a local record of delays resulting from patient choice, to aid good waiting list management and to ensure patients are treated in order of clinical priority. However, it will not affect a patient’s RTT ‘clock’.
Monthly referral to treatment data, guidance and practical tools for waiting list management are available from NHS England.
Published 31 January 2012 Last updated 27 October 2022 +show all updates
The referral to treatment (RTT) guidance suite has changed to reflect NHS England’s revised guidance on patient choice. The changes mean providers can better manage patients who wish to delay treatment at their current or alternative provider. If these patients wish to delay treatment, and have rejected 2 offers of reasonable treatment dates, providers can place them into a period of active monitoring. This would only happen following a clinical conversation and agreement with the patient. When these patients are then ready to accept an offer of treatment, they will re-join the waiting list and will be offered treatment. There will be flexibility in clinical decision-making, with the changes being suggestions rather than requirements, so providers can make decisions in the best interests of their patients. The overall aim of the changes is to support providers to manage their waiting lists and resources more accurately and efficiently, by focusing on arranging treatment for patients who have been waiting long times and who are available, while still protecting patients’ rights to choice.
Updated to reflect that the October 2015 Referral to Treatment consultant-led waiting times Rules Suite is now the current version.
If in the future your clinician feels it is appropriate to treat you, then on the day that decision is made a new 18-week clock will be started for you and you can expect to start your treatment within 18 weeks of that date. Starting a new 18-week clock In certain cases you may start a new 18-week clock.
Under the NHS Constitution, if your GP refers you for a condition that's not urgent, you have the right to start treatment led by a consultant within 18 weeks from when you're referred, unless you want to wait longer or waiting longer is clinically right for you.
An RTT pathway is the length of time that a patient waited from referral to start of treatment, or if they have not yet started treatment, the length of time that a patient has waited so far.
Consultant led care means that the lead professional is a doctor and you have been booked under the care of one of the Obstetric Consultants. The Consultants have a team of medical staff at different grades that provide care. It will depend on your medical needs as to which doctor you see at the clinic.
If you're referred for a physical or mental health condition, you have the legal right to start non-urgent consultant-led treatment, or be seen by a specialist for suspected cancer, within maximum waiting times.
There's no universally agreed-upon duration, but for straightforward, routine appointments (like your annual physical, a Pap smear, a prescription refill, etc.), the physicians I spoke with say that, generally, 20–30 minutes past your scheduled time is the outer bounds of acceptable—meaning if you've been waiting that ...
When you make a doctor's appointment, you are automatically given a short appointment (10-15 minutes is standard). If you are worried that it will not be enough time, ask for a long appointment. For example, you may like do this the first time you see a new doctor or if it is for a family visit.
First Definitive Treatment is the first CLINICAL INTERVENTION intended to manage a PATIENT's disease, condition or injury and avoid further CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS. What constitutes First Definitive Treatment is a matter of clinical judgement in consultation with others, where appropriate, including the PATIENT.
Designed to improve data quality in patient records and EPR systems performing validation to identify and fix errors in records across pathways and systems to ensure that RTT and PTL are accurate for reporting purposes.
RTT® is a therapeutic approach that uses powerful, evidence-based techniques to provide people with the tools they need to make positive change. The roots of RTT® are drawn from within areas of traditional psychotherapy such as gestalt, solution-focused and cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnotherapy and mindfulness.
The 18 Weeks RTT standard applies to the entire patient journey from the initial referral to the start of treatment. Achieving the standard depends on waiting times for diagnostic tests, outpatient appointments, and inpatient and day case treatment.
Consulting led selling enables your business to achieve concrete competitive advantages as they are based on the vision and mission of the organization. Consulting-led selling contains four pillars namely, Insight Selling, Issue-Based Consulting, Storytelling, and Management of Change. Storytelling.
How Long Does it Take to Become a Consultant? The length of time it takes to become a Consultant can vary. Generally, it takes approximately six to eight years to complete your speciality training and become eligible for Consultant positions.
If your doctor has referred you to your local NHS hospital for an ultrasound scan, you are probably aware that ultrasound waiting times can be long, and sometimes you will have to wait 6 weeks or even more for an NHS scan.
Sometimes, medical practices schedule as many patients as possible within the given time. By “double booking,” they can increase the volume of patients they see. It also helps fill their schedule if they have “no-shows.”
The NHS constitution sets a standard that 92 per cent of people waiting for elective (non-urgent) treatment, for example, cataract surgery or a knee replacement, should wait no longer than 18 weeks from their referral to their first treatment.
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