The Start Date of a Cancer Referral To Treatment Period.  This is a specific type of the attribute ACTIVITY DATE.

A CANCER REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD START DATE will be one of the following:

• The REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE of the SERVICE REQUEST to secondary care by a GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTITIONER or GENERAL DENTAL PRACTITIONER where the PRIORITY TYPE of the SERVICE REQUEST was National Code 3 - Two Week Wait
• The ORIGINAL REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE for the initial SERVICE REQUEST to secondary care where the PATIENT was subsequently upgraded onto a Cancer PATIENT PATHWAY.  The CONSULTANT UPGRADE DATE will also be recorded, as this is the DATE used to calculate the start of the two month (62 day) waiting time target for PATIENTS who have been upgraded to a cancer pathway.
• The REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE for the SERVICE REQUEST into secondary care when the PATIENT was referred urgently for 'breast symptoms' (the PRIORITY TYPE of the SERVICE REQUEST is recorded as National Code 3 - Two Week Wait)
• The REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE for the SERVICE REQUEST to an Assessment Clinic following the identification of an abnormality by an NHS Cancer Screening Service (the PRIORITY TYPE of the SERVICE REQUEST is recorded as National Code 2 - Urgent)
• The ORIGINAL REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE for the initial SERVICE REQUEST to secondary care by an NHS Cancer Screening Service, where the PRIORITY TYPE of the SERVICE REQUEST is recorded as National Code 1 - Routine, and where the PATIENT was subsequently upgraded onto a Cancer PATIENT PATHWAY.  The CONSULTANT UPGRADE DATE will also be recorded.

Note that for a SERVICE REQUEST received from the Choose and Book system, the referral is received when the PATIENT's Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN) is used to book the first outpatient APPOINTMENT slot (i.e. converted).   See REFERRAL REQUEST RECEIVED DATE.

This attribute is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
plural	CANCER REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD START DATES