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Table 3 Percentage of referral letters meeting the Grol quality criteria

From: Impact of a referral management “gateway” on the quality of referral letters; a retrospective time series cross sectional review

 

% Meeting criteria

 
 

Time 0

Time 1

p

Criterion 1

44.9

41.1

0.40

Criterion 2

94.4

95.0

0.87

Both criteria

43.5

39.6

0.39

After subjective over-ride

54.2

46.8

0.091

  1. Footnote: According to the Grol criteria [20] the referral letter is judged to meet the first criterion (provision of clinical information) when four or more of the following clinical items of information are present: patient symptoms, findings of previous examinations, whether or not investigations were performed, whether or not treatment had been given, and current medication. The second criterion addresses clarity of the reason for referral. To meet this, the letter must contain at least one specific request for the specialist (request for diagnosis, treatment, and/or a management plan).