Choose and Lose

So Choose and Book, the massively expensive and hopelessly cumbersome booking system Widely called Choose and lose by GPs) is now recognized as a failure.

This is what the Chief Executive of the NHS David Nicholson said today:

NHS chief executive David Nicholson last night said that use of Choose and Book remains disappointingly low but has become a fact of life in the NHS.

Answering MPs' questions about Choose and Book use at the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee hearing on the NHS IT programme, Nicholson said: “Utilisation of the system is not as great as we would have imagined at this stage.”

Originally the DH anticipated 39m appointments via Choose and Book by 2008, the actual figure is closer to 6m. A number of targets have been missed, including for 90% of referrals for first outpatient appointments to be made through Choose and Book by March 2007.