A PILOT scheme which will allow GPs to make hospital appointments from their surgeries will be developed by the Preston Acute Hospitals and the Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust.

The £345,000 Patient Focused Booked Admissions Scheme promises to revolutionise how hospital appointments are booked.

It means that instead of waiting for a date to arrive through the post patients can book an appointment on the spot, via a computer system linking GP surgeries and hospitals.

Health chiefs say that when the system is fully developed it will cut down on red tape, and help reduce patients' anxiety and uncertainty about waiting for operations.

It is hoped that it will also reduce the number of missed hospital outpatient appointments which cost the NHS nationally around £250 million a year.

The £345,000 secured by the Preston and Chorley Trusts from the Department of Health will enable booked admissions to be developed for all day case endoscopy (6,800 patients), all day case procedures in the surgical specialities (9,700 patients) and a further 3,500 endoscopy outpatients.

The system will be developed in five phases over the next two years, initially using existing telephone links.

A limited booked admissions system already exists at the Chorley Day Case Unit.

In the future, it is anticipated that the GP Net computer system will be the main communications channel between doctors' surgeries and the hospitals.

Jeff Moore, chief executive of Preston and Chorley Trusts, said: "We are delighted that our bid to develop booked admissions at Preston and Chorley has been successful.

"Appointments will be arranged more quickly and there will be less uncertainty and anxiety for patients. The system will revolutionise the way hospitals manage and deliver their services to patients and it will help reduce waiting lists in the future."

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