27.03.15
Technical issues delay NHS e-Referrals, replacement for Choose and Book
Technical issues with NHS England’s replacement for the Choose and Book hospital appointment system have resulted in delays to the go-live date.
In yesterday’s (26 March) NHS England board meeting, the organisation’s national director for transformation and corporate operations, Karen Wheeler, revealed the go-live date for the NHS e-Referral Service is “now expected to be between May 2015 and June 2015”.
The delay has been caused due to “technical issues” experienced during testing. NHE has asked both NHS England and HSCIC for further details on these “issues”, but at the time of publication had not received replies.
The new system, which is replacing the £356m Choose and Book, introduced in 2004, was due to go live in 2014.
Last year, though, HSCIC stated: “Despite excellent progress in the delivery of the NHS e-Referral Service, the planned 'go-live' has been rescheduled to the spring of 2015.
“The decision has been taken to ensure there is confidence that there will be no disruption to patient care for the 40,000 patients who use the service every day, and ensure over 60 million referrals are safely and securely transferred into the NHS e-Referral Service.
“There remains however a significant test, assurance and defect resolution activity to complete for us to be able to sign-off the system as ready. This includes testing how the service functions, how quickly it performs and how it operates with GP and Hospital systems, as well as the NHS Spine. Users and suppliers are actively involved in this testing.”
Part of NHS England’s commitment to making all referrals electronic by 2018, a major objective of the new NHS E-Referral Service will be to introduce functionality for patients as well as clinicians to facilitate choice and to make the booking experience more user-friendly.
NHS England initially suggested e-referrals would not be mandatory, but it has not ruled out a system of incentives and penalties to ensure take-up.
Tell us what you think – have your say below or email [email protected]