TheDepartment of Healthis sticking with its target of 90% of hospital referrals to
be made through the electronic Choose and Book system, despite the
NHS falling well below the target.
The 90% target was set for 2006/7, but statistics seen by the
EHI Primary Care website are said to show that
the take up figure is only around 40%.
The highest numbers of hospital appointment bookings have been
made by GPs in the North West and West Midlands cluster areas.
NHS Connecting for Health officials say around 16,000 Choose and
Book appointments are being made every day.
But there is still widespread opposition to the Choose and Book
system among GPs, with many preferring to use older more
established systems to book hospital appointments.
Related article:
GPs want opt in on patient records
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