Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the number of unsuccessful attempts made by (a) patients and (b) GPs when attempting to book an appointment at a hospital directly through the online choose and book system.

The NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) replaced the choose and book system in June 2015. The NHS e-RS is designed to allow patients and healthcare professionals to select appointments with providers either online or by phone.

An attempt to make a booking may be unsuccessful if there is no appointment for the required clinic or hospital service available on e-RS. If no appointment is available for a patient or general practitioner (GP) to book on e-RS, the referral is forwarded (via the Manage Your Referral application) or deferred (via the professional application) to the patient’s chosen provider to enable the provider to book the patient an appointment.

The relevant provider is contacted informing them that a patient requires an appointment and the provider will then contact the patient in relation to an appointment. Information on unsuccessful appointment bookings by patients or GPs for the last 12 months is in the table.

Note:

¹Bookings by “BMS Admin” are created when either another organisation (referrer or provider) attempts to book an appointment on the patient’s behalf or if a patient contacts the national Telephone Appointments Line and a contact centre operator attempts to book an appointment on the patient’s behalf.