Categorisation of referral
Outpatients
After receiving a valid referral from a health professional, advice is provided on the patient's category depending on the urgency of their condition and they are placed on the outpatient waiting list.
Clinical urgency categories
The category system ensures that all patients are seen in order of priority. There are three urgency categories, where 1 is most urgent and 3 is least urgent.
Clinical urgency categories have been defined for use in Outpatient Services undertaken in THS facilities – allocation of the clinical urgency category requires the fulfilment of ALL criteria listed for that category.
If a patient does not fulfil all criteria for Category 1, then the patient is allocated Category 2 status.
If a patient does not fulfil all criteria for Category 2, then the patient is allocated Category 3 status.
Category | Criteria |
---|---|
Category 1 |
|
Category 2 |
|
Category 3 |
|