Reach Out West Midland Adult Secure Provider Collaborative – Referral Management System (RMS)
The RMS is designed to streamline and centralize the process of handling referrals for mental health services within the Reach Out Provider Collaborative. The primary aims of the RMS are to:
- Ensure patients are admitted to the right beds at the right time.
- Standardize and improve the quality and timeliness of assessments.
- Reduce unnecessary delays and multiple assessments.
- Enhance collaboration between providers, referrers, and case managers.
- Improve patient, referrer, clinician, and provider experiences by making the process more transparent, efficient, and responsive.
- Enable robust governance, quality control, and data analysis to identify trends and improve services.
Advice for Referrers
Please feel free to contact the Referral Management System (RMS) via email at bsmhft.reach-out-referral-management@nhs.net to discuss a referral prior to completing the referral form. Our Referral Manager will be happy to advise accordingly. If you do not have any query, you can just proceed to complete the Reach Out referral management form using the link provided and the team will endeavour to get back to you promptly. It is essential that the referral form is fully completed and that any additional reports or supplementary information accompany the referral. Failure to provide sufficient information will result in a delay processing the referral.
The collection of demographic data is necessary to adhere to NHS England Mental Health Service Data Set requirements. It is therefore essential that you complete all mandatory sections in full.
Referral Allocation
The Reach Out RMS will accept referrals from Monday – Friday (excluding Bank Holidays) between 9am – 5pm. The referral manager will triage the referral and ensure that it is forwarded to the most appropriate provider within Reach Out, where it will be discussed in their weekly referral meeting and, if accepted, will be allocated to the most appropriate clinician to lead on the assessment.
Although the referral form asks the referrer to indicate the urgency, in line with the Service Specification the final determination of urgency rests with the Assessing Provider.
Referral Types and Assessment Timeframes
Urgent Referral Assessments
- The urgency of the referral will be determined by the receiving clinical team but will be informed by discussion with the referrer.
- A response regarding the appropriateness of the referral will be provided within 24 hours of receipt.
- Assessment will take place within 48hrs of receipt of the referral by a multi-disciplinary team where possible.
- The outcome of the assessment will be made known to the referrer within 24-hrs of the completion of assessment.
- An initial brief report containing concise summary of initial findings must be made available within 24 hrs of the assessment.
- A written report of the assessment will be shared within 5-working days of completion of the assessment.
For a referral to meet the criteria for urgent assessment the following should apply:
The person’s life is at imminent risk, and this risk cannot be managed within the current environment.
or
The person is in a non-secure healthcare setting with no available access to necessary treatment.
Referrals will only be accepted as urgent if not clinically urgent; court dates, release dates, the person being in seclusion/segregation etc will not be accepted as clinically urgent reasons.
Non-Urgent Referral Assessments
- These timescales are dictated on the basis that all information has been sent by the referrer through the referral system.
- A written response regarding appropriateness of referral will be provided within a maximum of 7 days of receipt of the referral or sooner if nature of the referral dictates.
- The assessment will take place within a maximum of 21 days of receipt of referral.
- The final written report will be shared with the referrer within 7 days of the completion of assessment.
- A proposed time frame in which the assessment will be conducted must be discussed and agreed between the access assessing service and the referrer.
- The access assessing (gatekeeping) service must confirm the time and date of the assessment.
