The Royal Free London is introducing a new referral assessment service (RAS) for adult and paediatric ear, nose and throat (ENT) and gynaecology services.

Urgent suspected cancer and emergency referrals remain unchanged.

All non-urgent referrals will be triaged before the patient is seen in clinic. Clinicians will review, redirect or return referrals with advice for primary care management.

Each specialty will provide a single RAS point of access for all sites, guiding booking staff to ensure patients receive the most appropriate appointment.

When submitting a referral, ensure you:

• attach all relevant clinical information and documents. Referrals will not be processed without documents. 
• include patient preferences for hospital sites to support patient choice.
• continue safety-netting while awaiting triage.

Implementation dates

• Paediatric ENT services, Tuesday 23 June 2026
• Adult ENT services, Tuesday 30 June 2026
• Gynaecology services, Tuesday 21 July 2026.

For referral escalations, contact the relevant administrative team.

This news item was updated on Friday 26 June 2026 to include details of the RAS implementation for gynaecology services at RFL.