NHS, England: Referral Management Centres

Every day, more disturbing NHS news -

Referral centres cause 'dangerous' NHS delays, BMA warns, Patrick Clahane, BBC News

"All but 12 of the 209 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England responded to a BBC Freedom of Information (FoI) request. Sixty-one of them said they used some form of referral management centre".
The BBC TV news report referred to these referral centres (some private) as "blunt instruments"; GPs' decisions to refer patients to specialists are, apparently, increasingly being scrutinised, vetted and overturned.