About Open Referral

The benefits

With open referral, as well as getting the benefits of your consultant being a member of our Open Referral Consultant Network, you’ll also get…

• a choice of the most appropriate consultants for your medical needs – and all the consultants we offer you are on our online directory, Finder, so you can look up more info about them before you decide who to see.
• help booking your appointment - we can book appointments with some consultants for you while you’re on the phone to us. Or we can send you links to their online diaries so you can book one yourself once you’ve decided who to see.
• certainty about costs - we‘ll always offer you consultants who have agreed to charge within your policy benefits. And we’ll let you know whether you have an excess to pay or you’re likely to run out of any out-patient benefit you may have on your policy, so you’re not faced with any unexpected costs.
• specialist support if you need treatment for cancer, cardiac, or muscle, bone and joint conditions. We can offer health information and coaching from qualified healthcare professionals to help you decide which treatment is right for you.
• convenient access to healthcare near your home or work - 90% of our members healthcare needs can be accessed within 45 minutes of their home address”.
• Nine out of 10 of our customers who’ve used open referral said that the quality of care they received was “excellent” or “very good”.
• Nine out of 10 customers also rated their open referral consultant as “excellent” or “good”.

How we choose the consultants we offer through open referral

We’ll offer you consultants from our Open Referral Consultant Network, who have been chosen specifically for the quality of care, value for money and customer experience they offer.

We’ve worked with Professor Elias Mossialos and Martina Orlovic of Imperial College London, and Professor Alistair McGuire of the London School of Economics, who have confirmed that the way we choose consultants in our Open Referral network is rigorous and fair.

Like all Bupa recognised consultants, Open Referral Consultant Network consultants must meet the following professional criteria:

• hold or have held a substantive NHS consultant appointment
• be on the General Medical Council/General Dental Council specialist register
• hold a GMC license to practice
• hold a certificate of Completion of Medical Training
• have professional indemnity insurance for their private practices

Find out more

If you’d like to make a claim, you can find out more here, or for more information we can call you back at a convenient time . All calls are free of charge to both landlines and mobiles.