title: Primary care. Central reservations.
abstract: A primary care trust has established a call centre for booking appointments for community services. The service handles bookings for physiotherapy, minor surgery and retinal screening. Since it went live in April 2002, the service has booked 2,000 appointments, reduced waiting times for physiotherapy appointments from 16 to four weeks and cut non-attendance rates from 18 to 2 per cent. It is hoped to increase operating hours to 7.30 pm and extend to cover other services.
authors.affiliation: South Leeds Primary Care Trust.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pattinson
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D007253:Information Centers / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013511:Minor Surgical Procedures; D009885:Ophthalmology; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration