The New NHS e-Referral Service

By Holly Johnson, Marketing Executive

Streets Heaver have fully and successfully tested our integration with the new e-RS service. Compucare & Clinical Manager Choose and Book users can continue to use the system with full integration to the new e-RS Service.

The new NHS e-Referral Service was due to go live in November 2014 but was delayed by the Government Digital Service who work with Government bodies to ensure ‘public services are digital by default, simpler, clearer and faster to use’.

It is now set to go live on Monday 15th June 2015.  It is a replacement for the now 10-year-old Choose and Book system which allows patients to book hospital appointments online via their GP as part of the Patient Choice Initiative. The new system has been developed using feedback from patients and NHS professionals.

Although it is a replacement, the HSCIC state that ‘there shouldn’t be any disruption to patient care and working practices’.  Over 40,000 patients use the Choose and Book service every day but this change will mean that more users can use the system.

Designed using the latest in technologies it will offer some improvements to Choose and Book from the launch date with the ability to add further functionality at a later date.  All past and current referrals made through Choose and Book will be migrated across to the new service from day one.

  • A new user interface will ensure the system delivers a sleek, modern look and feel, although the functionality will remain very similar to that of Choose and Book requiring little or no training for its users.
  • Help files have been added to help the user easily navigate around the system and use all the features.
  • For managers and staff a new Management Information and Reporting tool has been created to provide comprehensive reports using the data from the system.
  • A simpler integration engine will enable supplier systems, such as GP systems and patient administration systems to easily integrate with the new e-RS making access to the service more readily available.
  • More referrers than ever before will be able to access and use the service providing better patient care and helping to cut NHS waiting times.

The following document has been put together by the HSCIC providing Guidance for Service Provider Organisations and PAS suppliers with planned PAS changes prior to the launch of the NHS e-Referral Service.

The overall aim of replacing Choose and Book with the new NHS e-Referral Service is to provide benefits to patients, referrers, providers and commissioners.