Referring to hospital consultants electronically: The Lewisham Hospital solution

Doug Northwood describes the design and first-stage implementation of his Trust's appointments-booking and referral application, which won first place for Best Use of IT in Primary and Community Care in the Healthcare IT Effectiveness Awards 2001.

KEYWORDS: BOOKED ADMISSIONS, GP REFERRALS, PRIMARY-SECONDARY CARE INTERFACE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS DESIGN

ABSTRACT
As part of a long-running plan to improve communications and the quality of information shared between primary and secondary care, The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust designed and implemented an electronic referral application with its principle contractor, Corporate Communication Systems (CCS). Web-based, it is accessed via NHSnet and, for the first time, makes available to local-area GPs a round-the-clock facility for them to confer with hospital-based specialists and book their patients in to see a consultant, at the patient's convenience.
This article outlines the project's progress and effects to date.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2001; 18(3): 30–2