News

Choose and Book 'fails' to offer choice

05-Aug-08

Two-thirds of patients referred under Choose and Book are not being given a choice of appointment date or time, say researchers at University College London.

Their report, 'Does Choose and Book fail to deliver the expected choice to patients?', found that only one of the 104 patients surveyed at Hillingdon Hospital, north west London, was offered the choice of four hospitals, date, and time that Choose and Book promised.

Dr Henry Potts, the University College London researcher who oversaw the study, said his team ‘believes this could be typical of the national picture'.

Around 66 per cent of patients questioned said they were not offered a choice of date for their appointment. The same number said they were not offered an appointment time.

Also nearly a third (32 per cent) say they were not given a choice of hospital.

A Connecting for Health spokesman said: ‘The University College London (UCL) study of 104 patients from a single hospital two years ago does not reflect the experience of most users.

‘Recent major surveys on patient choice and primary care consistently show the number of patients using Choose and Book and being offered a service continues to steadily increase.

‘It is used for around 50 per cent of all GP referrals to first outpatient appointment.'

jonn.elledge@haymarket.com

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Comments

David Rose

05/08/2008

When the "Choice" of Consultant is included in the process then "choice" will be available to the patient at the point of referral, at present it does not. Many secondary care providers do not display appointments so they can achieve, as they see it, the 18 weeks target. Many of our patients have been left with no appointment only the promise that "someone" will call them back ......in many cases this does nto happen and the Practice staff are left to fight the system to get the patient an appointment. Not really as CAB was intended I am sure.

Tatiana Nikolova

05/08/2008

I absolutely agree with Dr Rose, this is exactly our experience ( Herts).On the other hand we have to employ additional secretary, and this cost significantly more, than the money received for CAB. Another way of clawing money back from practices, I think.

Jonathan Harte

06/08/2008

It's the same in south Notts too. No choice of Consultant, only of the specialty; and if waiting times for that specialty creep over 6 weeks (common in several areas) then no appointments available on CAB and the practice often has to pick up the pieces, despite there being a mechanism to put the work on the Acute provider trust to sort it.

Choice has been misinterpreted by central government anyway I think. Certainly in Nottingham patients do NOT want to travel elsewhere for care (Derby and Mansfield are only 10 miles away, Leicester sl further). They want a choice of date and time and often they'd like choice of who they see, especially when they've seen a consultant before e.g. 1 hip done in 2004, the other needs doing. it's a real phaff to get them back to the same team.

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