EMIS have nationally launched their own online appointment booking service, EMIS Access, which allows patients to send secure messages or book appointments with their GPs over the web. The website www.patient.co.uk links into the EMIS system; however, GPs’ own websites will also be able to interface with the system. Patients will also be able to change and update their contact details, and cancel or change appointments. EMIS Access directly links in with GPs own appointment systems, so all data is updated in real time. Around 15% of patients at Marple Cottage Surgery, Stockport, Greater Manchester, which is piloting the scheme, are already using the system. Johan Taylor, practice manager, said: "Once converted, our patients rarely go back to traditional booking methods. With less involvement needed from reception staff, it has freed them to concentrate on developing other areas of service. “And despite our initial worries, patients do not book any more appointments just because they can book online." Sean Riddell, deputy managing director of EMIS, said that the formal release of the system will benefit GPs and patients alike: "For the NHS nationally, EMIS Access offers major benefits to patients, as well as important savings in time and money. At a conservative estimate, savings to the NHS could be of the order of £4 million a year, and that will grow as take-up increases. “EMIS Access also provides a powerful example of the type of benefits that the National Programme for IT wants to offer through the Choose & Book hospital appointment booking system." Riddell also told E-Health Insider that the software is intended to run alongside, rather than instead of, the National Programme for IT (NPfIT): “This is not meant to be competitive in any way." EMIS Access and any software brought in by NPfIT will not clash but work together, he said. During the pilot, around 42,500 hits per month were received on the EMIS Access booking form, and it is expected that this will expand greatly as take-up increases. Other benefits that GPs have found using the text-based system include better confidentiality and access for patients with disabilities.
