Choose and book is the deranged hospital appointment booking system which GPs hate, patients don't understand and which drives hospital consultants to despair. It is expensive, doesn't give choice, and disrupts adequate communication from GPs to hospitals. It has been largely rejected; in the East of England it is only used for 23% of hospital referrals, compared to a target of 80%.
Tomorrow one of our hospital managers is coming to see me to ask me to agree to only accept referrals on Choose and Book (in preference to the tried and tested, quick, cheap and efficient system of a "Dear Doctor Monk" letter). I'll let you know how the discussion goes.
PS if you don't know about Choose and Book, you really ought to; it would be funny if it wasn't so serious. Please look at other postings on the topic, or at the Dr Rant website (see links)
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