“If you’re uncertain about a case it is always worth discussing your concerns and questions as the patient might be in a situation that needs further attention.” Dr Kaur
Dr Kaur is a Consultant Haematologist at Luton and Dunstable University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She has been a consultant for two years and joined the National Consultant Network, in October 2018, answering Telephone Advice & Guidance calls from GPs across the UK.
Since joining the National Consultant Network, Dr Kaur has enjoyed answering calls from GPs, saying the benefits include:
“Knowing I am able to help educate and guide GPs.”
We asked Dr Kaur what advice she would give to consultants who are thinking about joining the National Consultant Network but are unsure:
“It’s a good way for them to keep up their regular practice of clinical advice – in addition to the benefits it brings to patients and their local departments by helping to avoid unnecessary referrals.”
Regarding GPs who are unsure about contacting a consultant on the National Consultant Network because they are not in their local area, Dr Kaur gives this advice:
“If you’re uncertain about a case it is always worth discussing your concerns and questions as the patient might be in a situation that needs further attention.”
We asked Dr Kaur to provide a recent example of the advice she gave a GP regarding a patient.
A GP used Telephone Advice & Guidance to contact Dr Kaur about a patient as they were unsure “which investigations or whether a referral was needed for a patient with a long history of non-specific body pain and a slightly raised kappa light chain level.”
How Telephone Advice & Guidance through the National Network helped:
During the conversation, Dr Kaur explained “that a normal haemoglobin, creatinine and the very slight increase in kappa light chains, in the setting of a normal serum protein electrophoresis meant that this did not warrant a referral.”
Instead Dr Kaur advised the GP to “check the patient’s calcium level for completeness and check the serum free light chains in 12 months.”
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