ORIGINAL REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE

This records the first REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE for a specific health care service to be provided, which was received. This date should be recorded on any subsequent REFERRAL REQUESTS for the same health care service and should never be altered or removed, even if the Health Care Provider changes, until the specific health care service is provided for the PATIENT, or is no longer required or the PATIENT initiates a reset of the waiting period.

In cases where a PATIENT is transferred to another Health Care Provider as initiated by the transferring provider; and the receiving provider and the PATIENT both agree to the transfer, the ORIGINAL REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE should also be transferred and retained as the ORIGINAL REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE of the receiving provider. This is due to the receiving provider becoming responsible for PATIENT waiting time including the period of wait before the transfer.

In cases where a PATIENT initiates transfer themselves to another Health Care Provider and remove themselves from the waiting list of their current provider then the waiting period will reset. The REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE of the new provider will be used to record the ORIGINAL REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE. This will exclude any period of wait before the transfer took place.