title: An effective electronic surgical referral system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Electronic booking of out-patient appointments is being rolled out in England under the 'Choose and Book' programme. We set up and ran a local electronic surgical referral service before this. This paper assesses the effect of the electronic surgical referral service on patient waiting times and attendance rates.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 54 patients referred electronically and 189 referred on paper to a single colorectal surgical service over the same period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The appointment booking was achieved on the same day as the referral was made for the majority of electronic referrals whereas it took an average of 7 days for paper referrals. There was no significant difference in the time from referral to being seen in clinic between the two groups. Patients referred electronically were much more likely to attend for their appointment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that an electronic surgical referral system can improve efficiency. This may be because this system allows enhanced patient choice of appointment date and time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dennison
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eisen
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Towers
authors.forename: Celia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ingham Clark
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D014850:Waiting Lists