e-referrals have halved DNAs

Electronic referrals have reduced the number of missed appointments or DNAs (did not attends) in England’s NHS by 50 per cent

Rob Shaw, the interim chief executive of NHS Digital, said this meant NHS organisations had 50 per cent more appointments available for other patients.

‘If secondary care starts to fully take up e-referrals we will end up saving over £50 million a year,’ he said. ‘That money can be put back into the NHS.’

Mr Shaw spoke about e-prescriptions, saying GPs and pharmacists could not believe how much time and effort they saved when compared to using the old FB10 prescription forms.

But he said it taken the health service too long to embed new technologies and called for far faster adoption.

Sports clinic launches appointments app

A private orthopaedic and sports injury clinic has introduced an app so that patients can arrange appointments on their iPhones.

The iOS App was launched in March and the practice, the Fortius Clinic, intends to make the app available for Android users this summer.

A spokesperson for Fortius said patients can use the app to book new consultations, follow-ups, imaging appointments, upload and view documents, as well as pay outstanding balances and check payment history.