What is the Dental Access Pathway?

The Dental Access Pathway is a streamlined patient e-referral process for you the dentist to refer your patients for specialist services at your local hospital.

Why is it needed?

Previously, patients were sent to the hospital with print out or paper version of their current images. The hospital has to re-image the patient because image quality is not sufficient. This needlessly adds a cost burden to the hospital, as well as giving avoidable radiation exposure to the patient.

How does the Dental Access Pathway work?

It uses ShareMyXray, a GDPR-compliant medical image sharing service, but no installation is needed as it’s all handled in a web browser. You only need the practice email address to register your practice.

To make the referral you:

  • Export the patient’s images (DICOM export) from your modality
  • Login to ShareMyXray and click Send / Upload imaging.
  • Pick the destination hospital, drag-and-drop the folder with the images you just exported. Click Done.
  • To add the referral information, click on the cog on your new study and Add Memo, and type the clinical information for the request/referral.

Adding referral information

‘Memo’ means the referral itself and has the same fields as a referral form to prompt you (let us know your specific needs and we tailor the form for you). You can also attach PDF and Word documents to the referral.

That’s it. Here are detailed upload instructions, and also detailed referral instructions.

Can I refer to other hospitals too?

Yes. Connecting to additional hospitals is easy peasy (see here) and is completely free for both you and the hospital.

What is the cost?

Registering your practice is free, we give you free transfers to get going immediately, as a Purchase Order or Direct Debit mandates take some days to complete. You can use the free transfers for anything you wish – reviewing ShareMyXray, training or to immediately get started sharing studies.

There is either a low pay-as-you-go fee for each study transferred, or for easier budgeting a fixed annual fee by purchase order.

Pay-as-you-go is billed by Direct Debit (DD) in batches of 10. There is no standing charge for dentists’ low volumes so if you don’t use it, you’re not billed. Set up the DD within ShareMyXray after creating your account, where you can also see the latest pricing.

For fixed annual fee, Register your practice, and within the billing page click Request a quotation.