Referrals Management
Within the Bolton Community we are exploring different ways of booking
episodes of care. Electronic booking is one manner of doing this.
Electronic booking is a means by which a GP or a member of the practice
staff can book an episode of care directly from their computer at the GP’s
surgery to the hospital or other care provider.
The practice will be provided with view of the hospital’s appointment system
and offered a number of slots to book to. The referral will then in turn be
sent electronically to the relevant department/individual who will be
providing the care.
If you would like further information on this please contact:
Jane Wolstenholme, Booking and Choice Centre Manager, on 01204 46 2860
Email : jane.wolstenholme@bolton.nhs.uk
Family doctors refer thousands of patients every week for appointments
with hospital consultants or other providers of specialist care. But what
happens to all those referral letters? How does the appointment get booked,
and what if it's booked for a time the patient can't attend? And just how
many referrals are in the system … pointing to possible future "bulges" in
the waiting lists for outpatient appointments?
Our Referral Booking and Management Service (RBMS) provides answers and
solutions to this type of question, as well as being a handy single point of
enquiry for patients and their GPs about the progress of a referral.
RBMS is just one of a range of connected initiatives which will help give
patients more choice and control over when and where they receive the
treatment they need. Linked projects include electronic booking of
appointments, and the development of alternative routes for patients who
would traditionally have been referred to a consultant (such as ICATS and
Tier Two services).
The RBMS system works like this :
- The doctor's referral letter comes first to our RBMS team,
who immediately capture the information on their system, before
forwarding the details on to the relevant hospital. In many
cases they are able to register the referral directly on to the
hospital's computer system.
- The doctor gives the patient a note telling them when to
ring the RBMS.
- When the patient rings, either they agree an appointment
time that's convenient for them, or they are advised on when to
expect to be contacted with an appointment date.
- Any queries from either the patient or the doctor about this
referral will be handled by the RBMS. In particular, if an
appointment can't be fixed straight away, the RBMS will be able
to keep people posted about expected waiting times, so GPs won't
have to deal with these queries.
The advantages include :
- The Primary Care Trust has information never available
before about the numbers and types of referrals being made for
Bolton people, helping us to plan for people's needs.
- Because patients have to ring about their appointment, it's
expected more people will keep their appointments, cutting down
on wasted time in clinics.
- It will keep track of all referrals, reducing the number
that go astray.
- It will provide a single point of contact for patients and
doctors, with up to date information on appointments and waiting
times.
- It can be expanded in the future to cover community as well
as hospital appointments - and this will support the development
of more services in community settings.
- Ultimately RBMS can provide the opportunity for patients to
be offered a wider range of options about when and where to
receive treatment.
