GPs say they are not being listened to
Lack of consultation and the threat to GPs existing computer systems are the biggest failings of the National Programme for IT and the ones that has angered most GPs, according to feedback from GPs who were questioned in the latest survey by Medix-UK. Out of the 900 doctors who took part in the survey, 191 […]
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GPs urge rethink on Choose and Book
Primary care trusts (PCTs) will fail to persuade GPs to use Choose and Book unless the system is overhauled, according to GP representatives. In the meantime, PCTs look likely to direct most of the work via Booking Management Services (BMS) with only GP enthusiasts booking appointments themselves. Dr Paul Cundy, chair of the BMA’s General […]
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£95m package to boost e-booking uptake
Primary care trusts (PCTs) that offer a choice of hospital treatment to non-emergency patients through the electronic ‘choose and book’ system will be rewarded under a new £95m scheme announced today by health secretary, John Reid. A new package of funds is designed to speed up the implementation of the government’s commitment that by 31 […]
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NAO finds Choose and Book running late
Technical problems, delays in delivering upgrades and failure to engage GPs means the roll-out of Choose and Book, the national electronic appointment booking system, is behind schedule and, at best, will only offer 60-70% availability by the end of 2005. As a result the Government target to deliver patient choice by the end of the […]
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E-booking to miss its appointment
Choose and Book, the programme for providing electronic patient appointment booking, will not deliver a fully featured system across the English NHS by December 2005, according to a letter from the Department of Health (DH) seen by E-Health Insider. Almost 15-months after the award of a five-year £64.5m contract to Schlumberger-Sema (since taken over by […]
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InPS SMS upgrade allows for care service alerts
In Practice Systems (InPS) has announced an extension to its Vision system that will allow general practices not only to send out text messages to remind people of appointments but also to inform patients of flu vaccinations and other care services. The Patient Care Messaging (PCM) system sends messages through an external internet gateway called […]
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Choose and Book leaders answer their critics
Leaders of the Choose and Book programme this week attempted to answer concerns raised by GP representatives about the security and confidentiality of the new system. Medical director of Choose and Book, Professor Michael Thick, told a press conference that information passing through the booking process was treated with higher levels of confidentiality that those […]
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Live appointment booking cuts waiting times
The introduction of a live patient booking system has resulted in a dramatic reduction of waiting lists and missed appointments for specialist therapy care in Leicestershire, according to the software manufacturers. Ethitec, makers of the Tiara 9 specialist administration, records and appointment-booking software, have claimed that introducing a live appointments system based in a call […]
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Granger: “Fewer than 100” referrals made on ebooking
Richard Granger, Director General of the National Programme for IT, has said that the national programme remains on schedule to help deliver a fully booked NHS by the end of 2005 despite fewer than 100 bookings having yet been made on the Choose and Book electronic appointment booking system. Nevertheless, Granger confirmed that "we […]
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Choose and Book faces potential “show stoppers”
Implementation of Choose and Book (CaB), the national electronic appointment booking service, is experiencing serious teething problems with only a very basic, stand alone “naked" version of the e-booking application used so far. One of the pilot sites in Barnsley is understood to have put a freeze on using the main CaB application due to concerns […]
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