Information for referring practitioners from 14 July 2025
This information is for the benefit of our primary care colleagues, both dental and medical, and details the process for referring patients for Oral Surgery
New Oral Surgery Electronic Referral Portal
In July 2025, we are introducing a new Electronic Oral Surgery Referral Portal for use by all general dental practices when referring patients for oral surgery.
- The link for the portal can be found here
- Read our Referral Guidelines
This development forms part of our commitment to improving patient care, standardising referral pathways and enhancing data quality and efficiency within our services.
What’s Changing?
The new referral portal replaces the current varied methods of referral (email, post, telephone, etc.) with a single secure online system. Key features include:
- A web form to capture all essential referral data.
- The ability to upload supporting documentation, such as radiographs or clinical images
- Automatic generation of a secure referral PDF sent directly to our Central Booking Office to avoid delay and cost in postage
Overview
- The Oral Surgery Electronic Referral Portal includes several web forms available to external dental surgeries. This includes referrals for Dento-Alveolar; Third Molar, Intra Oral Soft tissue, Apical Surgery, Temporo-Mandibular joint; Other referrals.
- When referring a patient for any surgery, the dentist will complete the appropriate webform, attaching any Xray documents as required. This data will be saved as a PDF document and sent via email to an email account managed by the Central Booking Office (CBO).
- On the landing page of the referral portal, you will find buttons to start the referral types allowed by the department. All of the referrals are electronic and are completed on the platform except the 2WW Suspected Head and Neck Cancer Referral Form which is expected to be downloaded and returned as detailed.
Important information
- All practices will require an nhs.net email account to use the portal securely. Please access https://portal.nhs.net/Registration#/dentistry if your practice does not yet have an nhs.net email account.
- A soft launch period of 3 months will run from 14 July 2025 to 8 September 2025. During this time, both paper and online referrals will be accepted.
- From the end of the soft launch period, paper referrals will no longer be accepted, and all referrals will need to be submitted via the online portal.