E-Referrals set for ‘extended testing’

The Health and Social Care Information Centre will start extended testing of the new NHS e-Referral Service at the end of the month, after its go-live was delayed due to technical defects.

The new e-Referral Service was scheduled to go live in November last year, but in October the roll-out was pushed back, because of the need for “significant test, assurance and defect resolution activity” to be completed.

In a progress update on the HSCIC’s website, the organisation says it and NHS England are “jointly committed to ensuring a smooth and efficient transition” from the existing Choose and Book referral service, but had to delay the launch to complete “ongoing rigorous testing."

“This testing is essential to ensure that the new system is fully fit for purpose and working well for the estimated 40,000 patients who book appointments in this way, every working day.”

The update said it is also essential that the transition to the new service is as seamless as possible, with a focus on making the new system looking and functioning in a very similar way to Choose and Book to minimise the need for staff retraining.

It says testing with GP and hospital system suppliers is progressing well, with the service set to be tested alongside the new NHS Care Identity Service this month.

The testing will ensure the service can be integrated with the controls that allow authorised staff to refer patients, book appointments, and upload and review clinical information.

The HSCIC says service users are already “heavily engaged in testing”, with the programme team set to extend testing in late January to include wider representation from patients and professional users. “This final phase of testing will help ensure that the system is safe and fit for purpose.”

The update says Choose and Book will “of course” continue to be maintained while testing work continues to ensure referrals can take place.

Beverley Bryant, NHS England’s director of strategic systems and technology and the senior responsible owner for the e-Referrals project, told EHI at the time of the delay that the new system had failed several “go/no-go” checkpoint tests over the two months leading up to the decision.

“We initially asked for it to pass by the end of August because we wanted to be confident it would be ready,” Bryant said. “It was quite close but not close enough, and it wasn’t far enough off that we felt we could delay it at that stage.”

However, two further checkpoint tests in September revealed that issues with the system were still not resolved, leading to the decision to delay the go-live.

“The testing was resolving quite a lot, but it was still bringing up defects and issues, and they weren’t slowing at a fast enough rate so we made the call that we needed to tell people – we couldn’t just keep going and hope we’d resolve it.”

Choose and Book was developed a decade ago, after the then-Labour government promised to introduce “airline-style booking” to the NHS.

It was intended as one of a number of new, digital services to make the NHS more convenient.  However, its roll-out was significantly delayed, and usage has stalled at around 50% of referrals.

To encourage take-up of the new service, the annual planning guidance issued by NHS England for 2015-16 says providers will be expected to “publish all relevant services and appointments slots as part of the standard contract obligation.”

GPs argued that one reason Choose and Book failed to take off was that hospitals failed to make their slots available.

The Health Service Journal has also reported that a number of trusts are now restricting access to slots to local GPs and commissioners, in order to hit waiting times targets.