§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the new "Choose and Book" electronic booking system for out-patient appointments will be sufficiently operational to achieve the Department of Health's targets for booking and choice throughout primary and secondary care by the end of 2005. [HL4639]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)The "Choose and Book" service will greatly assist local health communities in achieving the national performance requirements for booking and choice set out inNational Standards, Local Action, and we are making good progress towards roll-out of the new service. Achieving the December 2005 performance targets does not necessarily depend on the electronic system being used in all parts of primary and secondary care by this date.
§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the new "Choose and Book" electronic booking system for out-patient appointments will be fully deployed and in use throughout primary and secondary care to allow the Government's interim target of 25 per cent of out-patients referrals fully booked by January 2005 to be met. [HL4640]
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§ Lord WarnerThe rate of 25 per cent for full booking of out-patient appointments is not a target. Local health communities are free to set their own interim milestones for moving towards full booking. Although we expect the "Choose and Book" service to support local health communities in moving towards full booking, it is still possible to achieve higher levels of booking prior to adopting the electronic system.
§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether local health communities are satisfied that the "Choose and Book" system will be delivered in time to meet the targets for booking and choice; and whether these communities are devising alternative systems to meet interim booking targets. [HL4641]
§ Lord WarnerThe "Choose and Book" service will greatly assist local health communities in achieving the national performance requirements for booking and choice set out inNational Standards, Local Action, and we are making good progress towards roll-out of the new service. Achieving the December 2005 performance targets—or any interim milestones that local health economies choose to set—does not necessarily depend on the electronic system being used in all parts of primary and secondary care.
The decision about when a practice or clinic will start to use the "Choose and Book" service will be made by the relevant local health organisations with support from the National Programme for Information Technology's "Choose and Book" programme. It will be based on organisational readiness and system compliance. In the meantime, some health communities will be using their current booking processes to help meet the interim milestones they themselves have set.
§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether alternative booking systems devised by local health communities will have any detrimental effects on clinical governance, staff morale, clinical engagement and security of patient referral data; and, if so, what are those effects. [HL4642]
§ Lord WarnerWe would not expect any booking system to be created or used by local health communities that would have detrimental effects on clinical governance, staff morale, clinical engagement or security of patient referral data.
§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have considered the impact on the uptake of the new "Choose and Book" system if alternative booking systems are developed by local health communities to meet booking and choice targets. [HL4643]
§ Lord WarnerWhere local health communities choose to use interim and alternative systems to deliver performance requirements or milestones for booking 151WA and choice, we do not anticipate that they will affect uptake of the "Choose and Book" service.
"Choose and Book", as an integral part of the Government's information technology strategy to deliver improvements to the National Health Service, offers a wide range of benefits to local health communities, including supporting current best referral practice, improving patient experience and freeing up clinicians' time through automating the referral process. It is a nationally funded technology, linked to a telephone-based booking management service and interactive patient website.
§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will revise the targets for booking and choice, particularly interim targets, to ensure that the new "Choose and Book" system is the only booking system developed and implemented. [HL4644]
§ Lord WarnerThe "Choose and Book" service will greatly assist local health communities in achieving the national performance requirements for booking and choice set out inNational Standards, Local Action, and we are making good progress towards roll-out of the new service. Achieving the December 2005 performance targets—or any interim milestones that local health communities choose to set—does not necessarily depend on the electronic system being used in all parts of primary and secondary care. Where necessary, local health communities may choose to use or adapt existing booking processes to support delivery of the December 2005 performance requirements and any local interim milestones.
The "Choose and Book" service is part of the National Programme for Information Technology and has been developed in consultation with clinical stakeholders and representative groups. No other booking service has been developed with such a wide range of stakeholders and we would expect this to be reflected in its uptake.