NHS App e-Referral Service cuts ‘did not attend’ rates by half
- 13 April 2021
![NHS App e-Referral Service cuts ‘did not attend’ rates by half](https://e41b000c.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/smartphone.jpg)
Rates of ādid not attendā have been reduced by half for patients who book GP appointments and referrals through the NHS App.
In October 2020, NHS Digital integrated the e-Referral Service into the NHS App to give patients more control over their appointments and save GPs time.
GPs can email appointment booking details for the NHS e-Referral Service directly with patients with an NHS Login. Patients are then able to securely access the NHS Manage Your Referral website directly from the app.
Research has shown that when patients book their own appointments, the ādid not attendā rate can reduce by up to half, according to NHS Digital.
Martin OāKeeffe, senior clinical lead at NHS Digital, said: āWeāve put the power back into patientsā hands, giving them another digital route to book and manage their own hospital appointments.
āThe NHS App will provide an easy, quick and secure way to do this on the move, meaning many patients wonāt have to wait for their referral details in the post before they book their first appointment.ā
The NHS App has more than two million users with about 40% of e-Referral appointments currently booked by practice staff.
OāKeeffe said this was a āpowerful pushā for primary care services to introduce their patients to the benefits of the NHS App.
āThis will make the whole process smoother and simpler for everyone involved and ultimately will improve patient care,ā he added.
āThis is part of a series of improvements that are being made to the NHS e-Referral service designed to help clinicians and patients.ā
NHS Digital recently made improvements to the e-Referral Service following consultation with stakeholders and users. Provider clinicians can now turn an advice conversation directly into a referral, making it easier and quicker for busy clinicians to use the service.
Further changes implemented in March allowedĀ the advice and guidance function to be integrated into provider systems so that conversations can be directly embedded into the patientās medical record and clinicians do not have to switch between systems to seek advice from each other.
The e-Referral Service was launched in 2005 and hit 100 million bookingsĀ in December 2018.
1 Comments
totally awesum(), NHS D rules !
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