Do you need a referral for lumpectomy?

You will still need an assessment by a breast surgeon or surgical oncologist. The surgeon reviews the diagnosis, imaging, biopsy findings when available, your general health and whether breast-conserving surgery is suitable before offering an operation.

A referral is a request from one clinician for a specialist to assess you; it is not approval for surgery. Some services accept direct appointments, while others ask for a referral from a primary care doctor, breast clinic or another specialist. The receiving hospital can confirm its own route.

Lumpectomy, also called breast-conserving surgery or wide local excision, removes the breast abnormality with a margin of nearby tissue. Suitability depends on clinical details rather than the referral itself, and the care plan may include discussion of lymph-node assessment, radiotherapy or other treatment.

Call the breast surgery service and ask whether it accepts self-booking or needs a clinician's referral. If a referral is necessary, contact the doctor who investigated the breast change or your primary care clinician and request that the relevant records be sent.

Gather your imaging reports, image files, biopsy or pathology report, current medicines, allergy details and notes about previous operations. Tell the booking team if the records are held at another facility so they can explain how to transfer them. Do not stop prescribed medicine while waiting unless the treating clinician tells you to.

Do not delay a recommended breast assessment while sorting out referral paperwork. Contact the investigating clinic promptly if you have received an abnormal imaging or biopsy result but do not know the next appointment.

Seek urgent medical care for severe difficulty breathing, fainting, heavy bleeding or a rapidly worsening acute illness. If you have already had surgery, follow the discharge team's urgent-care instructions for increasing wound redness, spreading swelling, fever, pus, uncontrolled pain or a wound that opens.

Ask what the operation will remove, whether lymph nodes may be assessed, what pathology results will guide later care and whether another breast procedure could be needed. Also clarify preparation, medicine changes, recovery limits, wound contacts and when radiotherapy or reconstruction discussions are relevant to your plan.