To make the communication between practices and hospitals more efficient and secure, we've launched a new feature that allows all users to leave referral follow-up notes directly in the portal.

• At the bottom of each referral page, you will can find an 'Add notes' button
• The button opens up a free text box which allows you to type in your note
• Upon submission the opposite party will receive a notification email that a note has been added
• The opposite party will be able to respond to your note in exactly the same way

The whole conversation will appear at the bottom of the referral page, with the most recent comment being pulled through to the referral dashboard.

Please use this means of communication to send any updates or questions about the referral. This can include:

• Any changes to the original referral (hospital, consultant or date)
• Additional information missed out the first time; or
• Follow-up questions re the referral status.

Spire Connect is a patient e-referral portal that offers all healthcare professionals a fast, easy and fully secure way to refer patients to Spire Hospitals.

GPs, practice staff as well as other healthcare professionals (including physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, optometrists and dentists) can refer those who:

• Have private health insurance
• Want to opt for one of Spire’s self-pay treatments
• Would like to see an experienced, specialist consultants

Spire Connect

• Provides you with an email confirmation once your referral is submitted and processed
• Allows you to send patient notes in a convenient format
• Stores an up-to-date list of consultants and specialties at your local Spire Healthcare hospital
• Allows you to review your submitted referral and patient notes
• Saves you time and paper

If you’re new to Spire Connect, register today.

Spire Connect is open to all healthcare professionals and practice members of staff. 

The portal has been designed to serve: 
GPs, practice members of staff as well as physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, optometrists, dentists and all other healthcare professionals.

If you’re new to Spire Connect, register today.

Spire Healthcare have taken great care to ensure that our online referral system is very secure. The online referral form has been designed with security in mind, and complies with NHS guidelines. Safeguarding confidential patient information is our priority and so we have built a system that does not send ANY of this information by email.

Instead the form is encrypted (note the "https" in the web address for the form) just like online banking pages. Once you have entered data into the form and you click on the submit button, it is encrypted and sent back to our servers in a form that would be unreadable to anyone else if intercepted. Once received within our company network, this is where the referral information stays - it is never sent outside the secure Spire network.

After you submit a referral to a Spire hospital, the local bookings staff receive an email alert telling them that a new referral has been made. They must then login to our servers from inside our firewall-protected company network. There they can retrieve the referral and process it. This cannot be done over the web or anywhere except on Spire hospital computers.

We believe that we have created a robust and effective online referral system that will serve both patients and GPs well. 

Why refer patients to Spire Healthcare?

We know you have a choice of where to refer your patients for private treatment but we’d like to think there are a few key differences in a Spire hospital.

Our hospitals are clean, safe environments and our levels of infection, including MRSA and C Difficile, are extremely low. As a result, the risk of infection to our patients is absolutely minimal.

We are committed to the key principles of private healthcare. You can choose the consultant to whom you send your patient, they will be seen quickly at a time to suit them and they will be treated with dignity and respect.

Our private patients are guaranteed their own private room, with the facilities you’d expect from a quality hotel such as satellite TV, radio and an appetising menu prepared by our on-site chefs. Their friends and family can visit when they wish and they can be assured of a friendly, comfortable environment throughout their stay.

Of course, we also invest in the latest generation technology, offer a broad range of services and work with the country’s leading consultants.

So, when your patients ask you "Why Spire?", the answer is clear. At Spire Healthcare, it’s not just about treating patients, it’s about looking after people.

Find out more about our patient care

To access the referral page, simply click on the ‘Refer a patient to a Spire Hospital’ button within the Welcome screen or ‘Online Referral’ link within the main menu

• Enter as much detail about your referral as you see fit. There are no compulsory fields within the form, except for patient name, DOB, gender, required specialty and the choice of Spire hospital
  
  
• You can choose to fill in compulsory fields only and provide the rest of details on a separate attachment
  
  Patient notes as well as any supporting documents can be provided in the following formats: RTF, PDF, PNG, Word, TIFF and JPEG. You can attached multiple files but the total size of attachments cannot exceed 10MB

• Alternatively, you can choose to provide details of the referral by filling in an online form found under the ‘Presenting Problem’ section at the bottom of the referral page
  
  
• You can refer to any consultant or specialty available at each Spire hospital, plus Allied Health Professionals such as physiotherapists and psychologists
• For an even faster referral process, you can update your ‘Settings’with a ‘preferred hospital’ choice.
  
  This hospital will then be automatically preselected within the ‘hospital’ dropdown, saving you the need to look for it within the hospital list. You’ll be able to change a hospital selection at any point, so you’ll still be able to send referrals to different Spire hospitals

• Once all the details are completed, press the ‘Submit’ button. You can print the referral details prior to submission by pressing the ‘Print’ button at the bottom of the page
  
  
• Please note that for security purposes, the details won’t be saved. If the form is closed before completion all data will be lost
  
  
• After submission, an automated receipt confirmation message will be sent to your direct email address

Please choose one the following scenarios:

- I’ve just registered but cannot log in

If you’ve only just registered and cannot log in, you need to activate your account

• On submission of your registration form, an email is sent to your direct email address with a link that allows you to verify your account
• Please check your inbox for an email from us. Once you click on the link within the email, your account will be verified and you will be able to use GP Connect
• If you did not receive an email please email support at spireconnect@spirehealthcare.com and we will activate your account for you. (This may happen occasionally if you use a nhs.uk email account.)

- I’ve used Spire Connect in the past but my password is not recognised

The best thing to do in this situation is to reset your password. Simply follow the ‘forgotten password’ link next to the ‘login’ button to reset your password to a new one.

- I’ve reset the password but I am still not able to log in

Most likely your account is locked. As a measure of security, accounts get frozen after five unsuccessful login attempts. To have your account unlocked, email support at spireconnect@spirehealthcare.com 

If you’ve missed any of the details of your referral, including attachments, you can either:

• submit the referral a second time with the extra information added in
  
  
• contact the hospital directly; please visit the help section for a list of local hospital contacts

Once the hospital is processing the referral, you will receive an automated update confirming that we are in touch with the patient and we are in a process of arranging the appointment.