Outpatient screening appointments, why do I need a GP letter?

ibook

The wife called St. James to schedule an appointment with the breast check department, and was told she will need to get a referral letter faxed from her GP.

Now the GP's secretary says "he will need to consult us before giving a referral. That will be 60Euros thank you"

Is this normal procedure? It doesn't sound correct to me. The GP is no breast screening specialist, so why do we being forced to go to him?

Last year we had similarly scheduled an appointment for a gynec screening, and it was a simple matter of waiting for our appointment date, no GP referral was required, so what has changed now?

DrIndy

Different protocols for different departments. The breast screening service is not a walk-in service because the numbers would be far too large to cope with so people are asked to quickly see their GP beforehand to sort out if the referral is needed.

This ensures all cases are breast lumps which need tests.

Attending the clinic involves triple assessment with a surgeon, pathologist and radiologist - this is an excellent service which has a very high pickup rate - but is very expensive and hence GP screening ensures it is also very efficient.