GPs say Choose and Book currently ‘unfit for purpose’

GP representatives have rejected calls for Choose and Book to be suspended but have branded the scheme as currently unfit for purpose.

Last week’s National Local Medical Committees’ (LMCs) Conference described the e-booking system as a politically-driven initiative that was being manipulated by some hospital trusts and primary care organisations to limit choice for patients and referring clinicians.

GPs also agreed that hospitals should not be able to reject referrals made on paper and that all GPs should be able to refer to named consultants.

Dr Param Jeet Singh, a GP in Southall, west London, told the conference that choice was low on patients’ priority list when referred to hospital and that practices in Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow had found the system sometimes failed to work, that referrals had to be remade and that it was too time-consuming for GPs and practice staff.

He told EHI Primary Care: “I work in a very demanding area with a high consultation rate and the majority of my patients are from ethnic minorities or asylum seekers and have found it difficult to use the system.”

However Dr Peter Wilczynski, vice-chairman of Northamptonshire LMC, argued that the conference should not call for the suspension of the e-booking system.

His practice with 22,000 patients is one of the biggest users of Choose and Book in the country with around 99% of referrals going through Choose and Book.

He told EHI Primary Care: “I don’t have anything to do with it whatsoever. We have four or five part-time staff who sort it all out and for most of our patients it’s brilliant. My argument is that the booking component of Choose and Book is a quantum leap from what we have had before.”

The LMCs conference also rejected a call for a public inquiry into the NHS Care Records Service (NCRS) but deplored any potential restriction of access to services for patients who refuse permission for their data to be held on the spine and insisted that lessons are learned from the early adopter sites for the NCRS.

Dr George Ogden, a GP at one of the early adopter practices in Bolton, told the conference that the introduction of the NCRS was an incremental process and that the benefits had to be balanced against the potential risks.

He told EHI Primary Care: “We are at an early stage but people are listening to what we are saying and it’s not a big bad world. So far a very low number have dropped out and patients we have spoken to think its happening already and that we share records anyway with the hospital and are not that concerned.”