A referral is a clinical question — not a request for a procedure, and not a handover of responsibility.
This service explains how a patient moves between clinicians and services: what a referral should contain, how urgency is signalled, what happens to the patient afterwards, how the answer gets back to the referring clinician, and how responsibility is agreed when two clinicians share the care. It is written for two readers at once — the clinician sending the referral, and the patient who has been referred.
A referral does not guarantee a particular treatment, an appointment within a chosen timescale, or an outcome. What it should guarantee is that the question was clear, the records travelled with the patient, and somebody closed the loop.
- A stated clinical question
- Records that travel with the patient
- Feedback to the referring clinician
- Shared care agreed, not assumed
A referral pathway built around the question, the record and the reply
Every referral into this service is handled the same way, whether it comes from another department in the same hospital, another city, or another country.
Read the question
A referral is read as a clinical question rather than an order for a procedure. We check whether the question is one this service can answer, whether the history, examination findings, imaging, histology and photographs needed to answer it have arrived, and whether the referrer asked for an opinion or for care to be transferred.
Route it by urgency
Urgency is a judgement about the risk of waiting rather than a measure of how much anyone wants it done. Each referral is triaged against the features the referrer described, and where a case turns out to be more or less urgent than the referral suggested, we say so rather than quietly reordering the queue.
Close the loop
The receiving clinician answers the referrer directly: what was found, what was concluded, what is planned, and who is responsible for the next step. A referral that produces no reply to the referrer has not finished, however good the appointment itself was.
Four leads, one pathway, a hospital behind it
The leadership of the Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics Medical Center reviews referrals into the service. Shaoliang Wang, Center Director, is the reviewing clinician for surgical referrals; the other leads review referrals within their own services. Shared care between these services and the referring clinician is agreed rather than assumed.
Shaoliang Wang, MD (王韶亮)
Center Director · Plastic Surgery · Referral Review
Center Director and the reviewing clinician for surgical referrals into the service: revision of failed operations from elsewhere, excision of skin tumours, complex wound repair, and the judgement of when a plan should not proceed. 20+ years of tertiary-hospital surgery.
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Tongchun Mao, MD (毛彤春)
Deputy Director · Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgery
Deputy Director and head of aesthetic surgery; detailed facial surgery, facial rejuvenation and surgical contouring. He reviews referrals for facial and nasal reconstruction, and personally performs over 700 operations a year.
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Ke He, MD (何锞)
Deputy Director · Skin & Laser Aesthetics
Deputy Director and head of skin and laser aesthetics. She reviews referrals for pigmented and vascular lesions, scarring and skin-quality problems, and leads laser-based scar and pigment aftercare. 20+ years in laser and aesthetic dermatology.
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Yongbo Jia, MD (贾勇波)
Deputy Director · Dermatology
Deputy Director and head of dermatology. He reviews referrals for skin disease, pigment disorders and hair and scalp conditions, and manages the perioperative skin health that other treatment depends on. Trained at the Institute of Dermatology, CAMS.
View profile →Referral, shared care and responsibility — explained honestly
These guides are the education behind the pathway: what a referral is and what it is not, what a referrer should send, how urgency is signalled, what the patient should expect, how feedback returns, how shared care is agreed, how referrals work across regions, when a second opinion is the right request, and why a referral may be redirected.
What a Referral Is, and What It Is Not
A referral, a transfer of care and a second opinion are three different things. What each one asks for, who stays responsible afterwards, and why the difference matters before anything is sent.
Read the guide →What a Referring Clinician Should Send
The history, examination findings, imaging, histology, photographs and medication list that make a referral answerable, and why an incomplete record slows care or changes it.
Read the guide →Urgent and Routine Referral Pathways
How urgency is signalled in a referral, what actually makes a case urgent rather than routine, and why a clearly stated question speeds up every part of the pathway.
Read the guide →What Happens After a Referral
Who makes contact after a referral, what the first appointment involves, and how a referred patient is kept informed while they wait.
Read the guide →Feedback to the Referring Clinician
What the referring clinician should expect back after a referral, what a useful reply contains, and why the loop has to close for the patient's sake.
Read the guide →Shared Care: Who Remains Responsible
Who owns which part of a patient's care when two clinicians are involved, how that is agreed and recorded, and what to do when the boundary is unclear.
Read the guide →Referring From Another Region or Country
Transferring records across distance, remote review before travel, and planning a referral around how far the patient has to come.
Read the guide →Referring for a Second Opinion
How a second-opinion request differs from a standard referral, what to state in it, and how to keep it from becoming a contest between clinicians.
Read the guide →When a Referral Is Redirected or Declined
Why a referral may be sent to a different service or answered with advice instead of an appointment, and why that is a routing decision rather than a refusal of care.
Read the guide →We will not promise what a referral cannot deliver
A referral is a request for an opinion, not a guarantee of treatment. Not every referral leads to an operation; some are answered with advice, some are routed to a better-suited service, and some conclude that nothing further should be done. Nothing here should be read as a promise of a particular treatment, a particular clinician, an appointment within a chosen timescale, or any outcome. Our job is to read the question carefully, answer it honestly, and make sure somebody remains responsible at every step.
Refer with a clear question
If you are a clinician considering a referral, or a patient who has been referred, contact the team to discuss the pathway. We will tell you what information is needed, how urgency is judged, who will be responsible for which part of the care, and how the referring clinician will be kept informed.
Part of Coming from Overseas — 5 sites on this topic