Hospitals are using Choose and Book to block patients making appointments so they can meet their waiting time targets, according to GP representatives.
Avon Local Medical Committee (LMC) claims local hospitals are refusing to give patients appointments when they ring up with a Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN) if the appointment would exceed hospital waiting time target.
Dr Simon Bradley, chair of the LMC and a GP in south Gloucestershire, said: “It is totally unacceptable that patients are being told when they ring up to make their appointments that there are none available. This is not true. Appointments are available but if they were made available to patients the hospital would not be able to achieve its waiting time targets.”
Dr Bradley told EHI primary Care: “We’ve had reports of this from around the patch and we believe that hospitals across the country are probably only releasing appointments within the target period.”
He said in one example Bristol Eye Hospital would only allow patients to book five weeks ahead for their first outpatient appointment in order to meet the five week wait target for first appointments.
Dr Bradley added: “I’m not angry at the trusts who I know are under intense pressure to meet these oppressive government targets.
“I had a patient who had tried three times to book an appointment using the Choose and Book booking line and was told there was no appointments available. In the end he came back to see me to be referred again.”
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, a GP negotiator who leads on IT issues for the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee (GPC), said he had experienced similar problems in his own practice in north London.
He told EHI Primary Care: “On of the big hospitals in my areas is now not taking Choose and Book referrals at all in order to meet the 18-week target. It’s the rigid implementation of a national target without looking at some of the obstacles and planning that needs to go in to achieving this target.”
Dr Nagpaul said Choose and Book was being caught in the middle of what was essentially a problem with the 18 week referral to treatment target, with hospital departments listed on the Choose and Book system but then not available when patients come to book. He said he would investigate whether GPs in other parts of England were experiencing similar problems.
A spokesperson for Bristol PCT told EHI primary Care: "All patients are being seen within national deadlines of 11 weeks and the majority within 5 weeks for first outpatient appointments across Bristol which is very short wait times. The Choose and Book system allows patients to choose their appointment time within a 5 week window so that provider trusts can aim to ensure that all patients are treated not just seen for an appointment within 18 weeks.
"Waiting times in Bristol are at the lowest ever recorded and whilst there have been some difficulties in some specialities for patients getting through to book their appointments, if a patient does not get through on the telephone or online, their contact details are forwarded to the provider trust who will make contact with them individually to ensure that they receive a choice about the date and time of their hospital appointment."