Minister to look at C+B issue with ‘sensitive’ patients

Patients who withhold their names and addresses to protect their personal safety are being ‘disenfranchised’ from the NHS when their local hospitals accept only Choose and Book referrals, a GP told Healthcare Computing 2007.

Dr Mary Hawking, a Bedford GP, explained to health minister, Lord Hunt, that the electronic referral system would not take patients whose details were marked ‘sensitive’. In areas where hospitals were refusing to take referrals via routes other than Choose and Book this left the patients disenfranchised.

Lord Hunt promised to look into the issue. He also said that the point raised by Dr Hawking made it clear that GP involvement was important.

“This is already happening around Milton Keynes and Bedford,” Dr Hawking told the minister. She explained that the problem could affect people with very real security problems, such as the directors of Huntingdon Life Sciences, the research firm that has become a target for attacks by animal rights activists.

Milton Keynes PCT announced controversially last month that local hospitals would send back any relevant GP referrals not made via Choose and Book.

A spokesperson commented at the time: “This is part of the move towards delivering Choose and Book locally and encouraging GPs to use this referral pathway. The PCT is working closely with GPs in this process.”