Refer

Making a referral

The For Me Provider Collaborative Secure Care network operates a Single Point of Access, maintained via Cambio, a Patient Flow Management System. The referral process applies to all admission types to secure services, including high secure and specialist services such as Deaf and ABI.

Note that referrals can only be made by a healthcare professional.

Each referral is tracked, monitored and quality assured prior to admission. Details of response times can be found in the For Me Provider Collaborative Referrals procedure.

Access to Cambio is gained through completion of the ‘Secure user access request form’ which should be sent to the For Me Provider Collaborative inbox formepc@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk.

Our Patient Flow team operates between 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, and advice will be given via the local gate keeping service during an emergency/out of hours.

Secure user access request form

All referrals to the For Me Provider Collaborative must be made in accordance with the Service Specifications for Adult Medium and Low Secure Services published by NHS England in 2018.

A referral should meet this primary inclusion criteria:

Presence of a mental disorder which is of a nature and/or degree warranting detention in hospital for medical treatment under the Mental Health Act.

In addition to the above, referrals should also meet any of the following inclusion criteria:

Patient, predominantly, presents a significant risk of harm to others and the risk requires specialist risk management procedures as well as specialist treatment interventions.
Prisoners suitable for transfer to low secure inpatient care will generally be charged with, or have been convicted of, a specified violent or sexual offence as defined in Schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 or another serious offence, such as arson.
Patients may be accepted without criminal charges pending, where there is clear evidence of a significant risk to others in the context of mental disorder. There will generally be a pattern of assaults and escalating threats.
Potential to benefit from the treatment/assessment provided or to prevent deterioration.
The patient is not safely managed in a non-secure environment.
Patient may present a risk of escape.
Patients with a mental disorder directed to conditions of low or medium security by the Ministry of Justice.

A referral would be excluded if it meets any of these exclusion criteria:

Patients who present a grave and immediate risk or serious risk to the public and must be managed in high security. *
Patients who present with disturbed or challenging behaviours during episodes of mental disorder that are likely to be relatively brief. These patients are more appropriately cared for in local generic mental health provision including Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU).
Where the predominant risk is of self-harm and there is no significant risk of harm to others. An exception to this might be for individuals serving long prison sentences for non-violent or non-sexual offences who, because of the risk of escape or as a result of direction from Ministry of Justice, cannot be transferred to a non-secure environment.

* Any referral to high security will need to be supported by an access assessment by a medium secure service provider.

All referrals for Adult Secure Inpatient Services for the Thames Valley and Wessex area are to be made via the Patient Flow Management System, Cambio as detailed above.
Referrals should be initiated and countersigned by a Consultant Psychiatrist/Responsible Clinician. Referrals will not be accepted unless the patient has been assessed by the Referring Consultant Psychiatrist/Responsible Clinician.
Documentation requested on Cambio must be provided. Failure to include the relevant information in the referral documentation will lead to a delay in the referral being processed.
Any referrals where further information has been requested, and not subsequently provided by the Referrer will be closed 4 weeks after the request for information.

Once all referral information is received it will be sent to the appropriate provider for assessment by the relevant treatment pathway. They, where possible, will have the capacity to admit without delay.

The Referrer is asked to indicate the urgency of the referral, in line with the Service Specification. Please note this level will ultimately be determined by the assessing provider.

The Referrer will be informed of the timescale for the assessment process following the referral being allocated by the provider to the clinicians undertaking it.

Timescales for responses to referrals will be monitored in line with those set within the NHS England Service Specification.

Refer

Making a referral

Referral criteria

Exclusion criteria

Process of referral

Our response

Useful documents

For Me Provider Collaborative Referrals procedure

Secure User Access Request Form

User Guide

User Guide

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