Primary care clinicians
What does Choose and Book mean for me as a Primary Care Clinician?
As a primary care clinician you are able to book patients into available appointment slots for services that have been locally commissioned or which are available across the NHS through Free Choice.
You can continue to use your primary care systems in the way you do today. Many of these systems are Choose and Book service compliant so that when you decide to make a referral, you can make a seamless transition into the Choose and Book service. The patient's name, NHS number etc are transferred through to the Choose and Book service automatically.
Alternatively, if you do not have a compliant primary care system, or if you have no practice system at all, you can access the Choose and Book service directly from your desktop computer via a web interface.
Choose and Book provides a Directory of Services enabling you to search for and review available services.
Advantages for primary care clinicians
- Using the Advice and Guidance capability from within Choose and Book gives the opportunity for GPs to discuss cases electronically with consultants in hospitals, often helping to ensure that patients do actually need a referral and if so are booked into the correct clinic (Advice and Guidance facility)
- Patients whose appointments are booked electronically no longer need to make follow up visits to the practice to find out what has happened to their referral
- Reduction in secretarial time with less time spent chasing up appointments
- A full directory of all services available
- Immediate access to services with the shortest waiting times
- You or a member of your practice staff can book an appointment for patients immediately
- Booking guidance is available to ensure patients are seen in the most appropriate clinics
- The ability to track referrals through the referral pathways and generate a worklist to identify outstanding letters
More information on how Choose and Book is being used, and the benefits being realised, by primary care clinicians is available in the form of case studies under the Communications section of this website.
