Health minister Lord Warner today announced that one million referrals to specialist care have been made through the Choose and Book system in England.
The DH says the million booking milestone has been reached with 85% of all GP practices making some use of Choose and Book, and the system now used for 27% of GP referrals to specialist care.
Having originally set a target for Choose and Book to be fully implemented by the end of 2005, the DH has since said that 90% of GP referrals to specialist care should be done using the system by March 2007. Last week it acknowledged this target was “ambitious”.
The national Choose and Book service provides patients with a choice of place, date and time for first outpatient appointments. Patients are able to book an appointment on the spot in the surgery, later on the phone or via the internet.
Health Minister Lord Warner said: "A million bookings since introduction in 2004 is a real milestone. And we are well on the way now to 2 million.”
Warner said that when patients book their appointments electronically they are more likely to keep the appointment. "85% of all GP practices are now using Choose and Book to make referrals and over 6,000 practices made referrals last week – nearly 30% of GP referrals to specialist care.”
Today, 85 per cent of all GP practices in England are using Choose and Book to make their referrals – with over 6,000 practices making referrals last week.
Almost 1.5 million bookings have been made using Choose and Book. This figure represents booked appointments and is greater than the number of total referrals because patients have the opportunity to change or re-arrange their booked appointment once the referral has been made.
Choose and Book is being delivered by NHS Connecting for Health, an agency of the DH.
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