Improving patient referrals
Meet Christine, she has played a big part in making sure we are ready for our move to electronic referrals. She shares some of the benefits this change will bring.
“I have worked at Barts Health for 13 years. I started my career as an appointments coordinator, progressed to supervisor and then senior supervisor. Working in many different roles within central appointments means I have a good understanding of internal processes, and the role each person has in booking and managing the hundreds of patient appointments we receive a day.
“On 3 September 2018 we will be switching to electronic referrals, which means our hospitals and GPs will no longer use email, post or fax to book first consultant led outpatient hospital appointments, we will use the NHS e-Referral Service.
“I believe this will be a great change for our patients, our organisation and the NHS as a whole.
“Using the NHS e-Referral Service means a patient will leave their GP with a booked appointment. Not only will this give them peace of mind, it also speeds up the referral process as a patient no longer has to wait for an appointment letter in the post – the process will be a lot more efficient.
“The online system also provides further reassurance to us and our patients as we have a clear audit trail. We will always know who the referral has come from, and when it was actioned.”
Want to find out more? Read more about the benefits.