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Optometrists' referrals to the Hospital Eye Service

Many of the ophthalmic referrals made by Optometrists result in a letter arriving at the Hospital Eye Service (HES). The exceptions include a few patients who are treated or dealt with by their own GP, patients who are referred to another speciality e.g. Neurology, and patients who are referred privately. Therefore, studying HES referral correspondence enables many optometrists' referrals to be studied and allows an assessment to be made of current ophthalmic referral practice. Type of referral, reason for referral, referral initiators and some of the information used to make the decision to refer, is often found within this correspondence. This study is a small part of a much larger project that was undertaken to analyse the ophthalmic referral process within the Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority area. The Health Authority is in South West London. Wandsworth has inner city health problems which contrast with the wealthy suburban areas of Sutton. Such diversity ensures that studies conducted