Implement - optimising the use of e-RS for providers
Considerations and advice when using e-RS including: how to access e-RS, referral pathways, Directory of Service, worklist management.
Ensure local referral management pathways support patient choice
Organisations should ensure local referral management pathways utilise both NHS and Independent Sector Provider (ISP) commissioned services to support patient choice.
Referring organisations can create the following:- a referral into a directly bookable service - in which case the patient needs to book an appointment before the referral can be processed further or a triage/assessment service - where the referral information is assessed first, without an appointment being pre-booked
- an indirectly bookable service – in which case the patients can be referred to providers but appointments cannot be booked directly within e-RS, or a triage/assessment service - where the referral information is assessed first, without an appointment being pre-booked
- a triage request - the information will be assessed and actioned (either referring the patient onto an appropriate service or replying to the referrer)
- an advice and guidance request - advice can be obtained by a referrer from an advice and guidance service, before (or instead of) making a referral
Implementing e-RS
If you've not implemented e-RS, find out how to get started.
Information on how to access e-RS through web-based professional application can be found in our web-based e-RS onboarding section. If accessing e-RS through integration, via the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), more information can be found in our integration section.
If you are planning to begin using e-RS for the first time, or if you are an existing user and want to maximise the benefits, visit the e-RS providers webpage for guidance and recommendations based on best practice.
Points to note:
- access the professional application (HSCN/N3 only)
- establish an e-RS working group in your organisation to improve referrals, support patient choice and outcomes for patients
- find out what smartcard business functions are available through e-RS, or find out more about smartcards
- Care Identity Service (CIS) 2 sits alongside CIS providing a service of authentication and access to patient information systems using new authentication methods and tokens over the internet
- guidance for independent sector providers
Ensure capacity is published to e-RS
When no clinic appointment is available for patients to book in e-RS, the referral can be forwarded (via the Manage Your Referral patient application) or deferred (via the professional application) to the patient’s chosen provider to enable the provider to book the patient an appointment. When a referral is forwarded or deferred, it will appear on that provider’s appointment slot issues (ASI) worklist.
While some appointment slot issues are inevitable, it is important that providers manage them in a timely and effective manner to minimise the effects on patients, referrers and their own staff. The impacts of poor ASI management include:
- patient confusion
- clinical risks
- loss of audit trail - cancelling appointment requests
- relationship with referral to treatment (RTT) clock starts for GP referrals
Review the:
- patient booking window and manage and minimising ASIs guidance to manage appointment slots
- data extract to identify ASIs
Setting up Directory of Service
Service providers build and publish their services on the Directory of Service (DOS) within e-RS. This in turn enables referrers to search for and list appropriate services for their patients.
Within the definition of appointment services on the DoS, providers can use the ‘Instructions’ section to relay important information to patients regarding the appointment they have booked. For example “Please ensure you arrive at Outpatients reception at least 15 minutes before your appointment and expect to be at the hospital for up to 2 hours”.
This information is displayed when an appointment is booked on the ‘Appointment Summary’ screen (for referrers), printed on the appointment confirmation letter and displayed onscreen in the Manage your referral patient booking website or the NHS App.
- how to create a service on e-RS
- understand the implications of setting up services with 'dummy' appointments and the options available to move away from this
- how to minimise and manage appointment slot issues
- using the patient booking window to manage appointment slots
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust utilises the Patient Booking Window functionality within some of their services to support them to manage capacity and to ensure the patients receive the ‘right care’, in the ‘right place’, at the ‘right time’, regardless of the source of their referral.
Setting up a patient booking window in these services supports the Trust in ensuring patients are offered appointments within the correct timeframe once the clinical team have reviewed their referral.
The Trust have already seen several benefit from using the Patient Booking Window.
This has allowed teams to protect slot capacity for those patients who require an urgent appointment and ensure patients are not able to book out of date order. It also stops patients booking into short notice, cancelled appointments, before their referral has been received and reviewed. In some areas, where there is a high number of patients waiting for an appointment, utilising the patient booking window functionality allows the Trust to gatekeep slots for internal use, prior to e-RS patients being booked in. This approach allows e-RS patients to manage their own appointments, but within the constraints that the Trust has created.
Patient administration system migrations
Guidance for service provider organisations on how to amend or replace a patient administration system (PAS).
Worklist management
The provider worklists tab lets you manage your workflow. It functions in the same way for all the different worklists available. There is a Worklist Type drop down list that allows you to select from list below:
- Referrals for Review
- Advice & Guidance Request
- Appointments for Booking
- Appointment Slot Issues
- Displaced Appointments
- Indirectly Booked Appointments to Cancel in PAS/EPR
- Outbound Referrals
- Outstanding Referrals Letters
- Rejected Cancellations
Within each worklist are a number of filters which allow users to specify which information they want to see at that time. These filter option can be hidden if more space is require on the screen.
How to deal with common issues experienced by users of the Path to Live/test environments
There are occasions where users need to perform transactions on NHS systems which are not "real". These may include deployment testing of new systems/versions or perhaps as part of live incident resolution.
Review the guidance if any of the following issues are being experienced:
- Common roles in e-RS and how they’re used
- Connecting to e-RS
- Valid e-RS roles for each organisation type
- Define services in e-RS
- Slot polls and service details
- Setting up workgroups
Actions and points to note for worklist management
Last edited: 14 September 2023 3:27 pm