Map Referrals launched

Map of Medicine has launched a referral management system to allow GPs to make paperless referrals.

Map Referrals integrates with GP IT systems to allow instant access to pre-populated referral forms and referrals guidance.

It has been has been piloted in Wiltshire where it significantly reduced time spent on administration.

Map of Medicine – a subsidiary of Hearst Corporation – provides GPs with 300 clinical care pathways to support evidence-based decision making.

A statement from the company said that across a clinical commissioning group covering 40 practices, the new referrals system was shown to save 20 days of administration time in a month.

Sarum and Bath & North East Somerset CCGs are rolling out Map Referrals to all the practices in their areas.

Sarum CCG’s head of primary care IT, Corby Thomas, said the system could reduce overall referral costs and patients would benefit from an improved and more efficient service.

“We chose Map because of its NHS legacy and history – it provides evidence based, NHS-developed products, and we were impressed by how quickly the team came on board and got us started,” he said.

Map Referrals has also been bought by Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG, and Solihull CCG.

A Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG spokesperson said: “After considering several referral management solutions we felt that Map Referrals was the most suitable for our CCG due in the main to its full integration with SystmOne and the exciting prospect that other clinical systems could be fully integrated in the near future.”

Map of Medicine commercial director Nigel Potter said Map Referrals was “striking a chord with CCGs” who were keen to standardise patient care and improve the quality of referrals locally.