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Plan and communicate - optimising the use of e-RS for providers

To support your progress against national and local priorities as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, this page includes stakeholder engagement, news, events and training.

Review the national and local priorities as set out in the NHS Long Term plan.


Keep up to date with e-RS changes

Use the resources below to keep up to date with changes to e-RS, including benchmarking within Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

  • e-RS strategic roadmap - the planned future changes to digital triage, appointments, and referrals
  • e-RS alerts/releases - information on e-RS updates
  • e-RS news and events - delivered changes or planned development to e-RS and e-RS specific events
  • e-RS providers dashboard -  summary of the information for anonymous e-RS data for referrals, bookings and appointment slot issues (ASIs) by specialty at Integrated Care Board (ICB) - sub group level
  • e-RS national training forum - members find out what the e-RS team are working on, what's planned and how users can support the programme team
  • NHS benchmarking all-sectors -  provides a strategic level oversight of healthcare at an Integrated Care Board (ICB) level, with drill down to historic Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) geographies and Local Authority level
  • e-RS overview sessions - virtual sessions covering e-RS roles using Microsoft Teams
  • provider support webpage - one location for support information
  • e-RS system Help (HSCN connection required to access this link) - provides information on system functionality and processes

Thanks to user feedback, e-RS is continually improving to make it easier, quicker and more convenient to use. Professional users of e-RS can provide suggestions on how to improve the system by submitting a request using our online form. Once the request has been submitted, a copy of the suggestion can be downloaded to a PDF format for future reference. User needs, which have been added to the e-RS requirements log, can be viewed, and voted on. The number of votes on each ‘need’ will be taken in to account when future development work is considered.


Undertaking stakeholder engagement

Assess if internal system suppliers are taking advantage of the opportunities offered by e-RS below to support patient choice and utilisation of all outpatient capacity (including: Independent Sector Provider (ISP) referral channels:


Work with internal system suppliers

Work with internal system suppliers (also known as 'Partners') who are looking at implementing NHS England’s Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for e-RS.

Find out more about integration and how connecting systems to e-RS delivers benefits including increasing productivity, better user experience, easier data exchange and improving patient care.

The e-RS integration section provides a single repository where relevant information is detailed to understand the onboarding process, and the steps involved. In this section an onboarding video (duration 29 minutes - chapter markers available) explains each stage of the onboarding process. 

Explore the e-RS APIs.


Other providers

Community services and other qualified providers are able to utilise e-RS to make referrals:

Last edited: 22 June 2023 5:30 pm