Justification of Referrals in Primary Care

This guidance is intended to support referrers to Ultrasound (US) and ultrasound providers in the appropriate selection of patients for whom ultrasound would be beneficial in terms of diagnosis and or disease management. Whilst the guidance is primarily directed at primary care, it  is also relevant for other referrer groups. It has been written to aid ultrasound providers in justifying that an ultrasound examination is the best test to answer the clinical question posed by the referral.

The guidance has been compiled by a panel of ultrasound experts to support good practice in vetting and justifying referrals for US examinations. It has been written with a pragmatic approach to managing referrals based on the panel’s expert opinion. This document can be used to assist and underpin any local guidelines that are produced. 

To read the old guidance please click here

Important Update: The BMUS Justification document has an amendment in Section 2; p6-7.  After a review of recently published guidelines and feedback from members we have amended our recommendations for liver ultrasound in the presence of abnormal liver blood tests.  

Click here to use the latest version (version 5).