Orthopaedic and spinal referrals

Who can refer?

We accept referrals from GPs and other hospital medical teams.

Our orthopaedic team accept GP referrals for children living in:

Lambeth
Southwark
Lewisham
Bromley
Bexley
Greenwich

How to refer

GP referrals

All NHS GP referrals must be submitted using the NHS e-Referral service (e-RS).

Referrals sent to the nhs.net mailbox or by post from GPs will not be processed.

Tertiary referrals

Please send a letter addressed to the department of children's orthopaedics or department of children's spinal surgery. Letters can be sent by email or post using the details in the relevant referral contacts box on this page.

Patients with spinal problems, such as back pain, should be referred to the department of children's spinal surgery.

Patients with bone tumours should be referred to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

Elective referrals

For elective referrals, please telephone the relevant number to speak to a secretary Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

For orthopaedic elective referrals phone 020 7188 6541 or 020 7188 2479.

For spinal elective referrals phone 020 7188 7188 (ext 51603) or 020 7188 9474.

We need an email with the patient's details including:

name, address
date of birth
hospital number if they have one
a summary of the problem

Orthopaedic referrals for fractures or care of fractures

Please phone the fracture clinic medical secretary on 020 7188 2459 or the fracture clinic appointments line on 020 7188 0808 (option 4).

Emergency inpatient referrals

Please phone 020 7188 7188 and ask to speak to either the orthopaedic registrar or paediatric spinal fellow on-call between 8am and 5pm.

For out of hours emergency inpatient referrals, please phone the orthopaedic on-call team at St Thomas Hospital on 020 7188 7188 and ask to be connected by switchboard, they will liaise with the appropriate team.