Choose and Book gets upgraded

Atos Origin has announced that it has implemented the latest in a series of upgrades to the national NHS electronic booking systems known as Choose and Book system, being provided under the Connecting for Health programme.

The upgrade announcement came in the same week that CfH said that over 3m appointments have been made through the patient booking system.

Following the upgrade trusts will be able to use Choose and Book to show which services accept two-week wait referrals, enabling GPs to identify them more quickly.

Other benefits of the update are said to include helping users of Choose and Book find services more effectively and giving GPs the ability to group potential services by hospital, helping to more quickly identify the appropriate service.

Also included as part of the upgrade to the system are improvements in patient printouts, making them clearer and easier to read.

According to Atos Origin, which is the prime contractor for the Choose and Book system, using software provided by Cerner, some NHS trusts using the system have reported sharp falls in the number of Did Not Attend (DNA) appointments. At Kettering Hospital NHS Trust, DNAs have fallen by 35%, when referrals are made through Choose and Book.

“We welcome this latest upgrade and improvements to the Choose and Book service,” said Dr Naeem Shaukat, consultant cardiologist. “We have been using Choose and Book since June 2006 and have found it useful. It has allowed us to manage the referrals in a more contained way and to redirect patients appropriately. These measures will help to reduce the time spent by patients waiting and will help towards us meeting the 18-week target.”

Ian Hill, head of health for Atos Origin in the UK, said: “We recognize that the Choose and Book service, as part of the wider National Programme for IT, is radically changing the way that clinicians and staff across the NHS work and is contributing significantly to improving patient care and reducing waiting lists.”

David Sides, UK MD of Cerner, said that working with its partners Cerner wanted to make the Choose and Book service "as intuitive, fast and easy to use as possible”.

Since providing the first Choose and Book application in July 2004 Atos Origin has delivered three major upgrades and thirty four minor releases to the system, based on user requirements and feedback. The Choose and Book service is built using Cerner’s Millennium-based electronic bookings applications software.