Lambeth and Guy's & St Thomas': streamlining safeguarding referrals with integrated workflows

DXS customer collaboration demonstrates how structured data and smart integration can transform referral pathways

By Jeffrey van Schoor, Head of Projects & Operations at DXS

When London Borough of Lambeth needed to improve how GP practices managed MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) referrals to Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, they faced a common challenge: a referral process that required duplicate data entry, reliance on external portals, and manual workarounds that consumed valuable clinical time.

Working with Oasis (through its Oasis Case Management System) and IT Works as technical partners, DXS designed and delivered a solution that demonstrates how referral workflows can be transformed when structured clinical data is put to work intelligently.

The challenge

GP practices were managing MARAC referrals – critical safeguarding pathways for patients at risk of domestic abuse – through a process that didn't integrate with their clinical systems. When Oasis moved to an online-only referral form, practices faced either re-entering information already captured during consultations or developing their own workarounds.

The result was predictable: administrative burden increased, time was lost, and the risk of incomplete or inaccurate referrals grew.

What DXS delivered

We redesigned the referral pathway to work naturally within primary care systems, preserving the benefits of auto-population while meeting Oasis's new system requirements. The solution includes:

• Auto-population of patient and clinical information directly from the GP record, eliminating duplicate data entry.
• Structured referral data in a consistent, interoperable format that supports downstream clinical use.
• Built-in validation to ensure all required fields are completed before submission, reducing rejected referrals.
• Seamless transfer of information directly into the receiving system, removing reliance on manual portals.

The integration means practices can now complete MARAC referrals from within DXS Point-of-Care rather than navigating separate systems – making the process faster, more reliable, and less prone to error.

The impact for GP practices

By embedding the referral process into existing clinical workflows, practices experience immediate operational benefits:

• reduced duplicate data entry and manual re-keying of information
• fewer incomplete or rejected referrals requiring correction
• fewer follow-up queries from secondary care requesting missing information
• a simpler, more streamlined administrative process

The result: time saved during consultations and significantly less corrective work after submission.

Supporting better referral quality

Structured validation plays a crucial role in improving the completeness, accuracy and clinical relevance of referrals. It ensures:

• mandatory information is captured and completed at the point of referral
• pathway criteria are appropriately met and supported
• relevant clinical context is clearly included

This reinforces the SMART Referrals principle of right patient, right service, right information – improving clarity for triage teams and reducing avoidable delays in what are often time-critical safeguarding situations.

The broader applicability

While this project focused on MARAC referrals, the principles and benefits apply across all referral types. When referral workflows are integrated and intelligently structured, the advantages extend across the healthcare system:

• primary care teams spend less time on administrative tasks
• secondary care receives clearer, more consistent and usable information
• referral pathways operate more efficiently and predictably
• patients progress through the system with fewer avoidable delays or interruptions

Whether it's safeguarding referrals, elective care pathways, or specialist services, the combination of auto-population, structured validation, and direct system integration makes the referral process more efficient, more reliable and better aligned to the practical demands of frontline care.

Jeffrey van Schoor & the DXS Team

Interested in streamlining referrals and improving data quality across your pathways? Get in touch – hello@dxs-systems.co.uk

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