Refer a patient to the Rheumatology department

This page includes information on how to refer a patient to the Rheumatology department at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Please see our admission criteria for information about the diagnoses treated by the Rheumatology department at GOSH.

As a tertiary care hospital, all children who attend GOSH must be referred via local hospital consultants or community paediatricians. In exceptional circumstances, children with inflammatory conditions only may be referred via a GP following discussion with one of our consultants.

To make a referral for an inflammatory condition to the Rheumatology department please contact:

Email: gos-tr.referrals@nhs.net.

Please make sure any new referral sent has ‘NEW REFERRAL’ as the subject heading.  All referrals must be sent as an attachment on the hospital's headed paper. Please see below for referrals to our non-inflammatory assessment service.

For urgent out-of-hours admissions please contact the GOSH switchboard and ask for the on-call rheumatology registrar.

Telephone: 020 7405 9200

Referral letters must include:

• a clear history of the presenting complaint
• past history
• family history
• medication history
• physical examination including fever chart where relevant
• urinalysis if relevant
• bloods done (please liaise first before taking bloods)
• other tests (please liaise first to save unnecessary X-rays, bone scans, MRI etc)
• other health professionals involved
• information given to parents and child
• school, including amount missed

We no longer offer this service.

• Muthana Al Obaidi - Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology
• Paul Brogan - Professor of Vasculitis and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology
• Despina Eleftheriou - Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology
• Sandrine Lacassagne - Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology
• Charalampia Papadopoulou - Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology
• Elena Moriatis - Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology
• Ovgu Kul Cinar - Consultant in Paediatric Rheumatology

The Rheumatology department at GOSH offers diagnosis and management of children with inflammatory rheumatological diseases.

Uniquely, this unit provides a GOSH-wide service for referral and management of vasculitis and recurrent fever syndromes.
The core specialties regularly involved are rheumatology, nephrology, infectious diseases and immunology.

Our medical team also works in the Adolescent Unit at the University College London Hospital (UCLH). Young people aged between 14 and 16 years are transferred to this clinic for treatment in an age-specific environment.

The team also works closely with local teams in secondary centres to ensure that our patients are treated in a way that best suits them. To facilitate this, the team has set up the Rheumatology Shared Care Unit (RheSCU) network.

The Rheumatology department offers inpatient, outpatient, day care and ambulatory services.

The Rheumatology department provides diagnostic tests and therapies, treating patients with the following diseases:

• juvenile idiopathic arthritis
• juvenile enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA)
• psoriatic arthritis
• arthritis associated with other chronic diseases (cystic fibrosis)
• scleroderma
• juvenile dermatomyositis
• vasculitis
• chronic infantile neurological cutaneous and articular syndrome
• chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis
• periodic fever syndromes
• mixed connective tissue disease
• systemic lupus erythematosus
• overlap connective tissue disease

The Rheumatology department shares Pelican Ward with the Dermatology and Infectious Diseases departments.

The ward has 16 inpatient beds and also treats patients who come in for ambulatory day care.

All general feedback and suggestions can be directed to:

Rheumatology Secretaries
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street
London
WC1N 3JH

Telephone: 020 7405 9200 Ext 7887

Dr Muthana Al Obaidi
Specialty Lead for Rheumatology
Telephone: 020 7405 9200 Ext 7887

Jheni Morrison

Patient pathway Lead and Interim Assistant Service Manager

Telephone: 020 7405 9200 Ext 5640

Ilse Osei Kwame
Service Manager
Telephone: 020 7405 9200 Ext 6709

Esther Dontoh
General Manager
Telephone: 020 7405 9200 Ext 5096