Hospitals with shortest waits open to all

ALL patients in England will soon be able to be referred to hospitals with the shortest waiting lists under plans unveiled alongside a new contract for GPS.

The e-referral service allows GPS and patients to identify the hospitals with the shortest waits if a patient needs to be sent for hospital care.

More than a third of GP practices do not use this service and NHS England announced that £10million will be invested to make it available at every practice by October.

NHS England has also announced plans to widen pilot schemes which have seen NHS 111 directly booking GP appointments for patients among practices that want to take part, as well as the roll-out of the Electronic Prescription Service – where prescriptions are sent directly to patients’ pharmacists.

The new GP contract for 2018/19 sees increased funding for pay, expenses, and indemnity cover.

The agreement also makes clear that practices must not advertise private GP services where that service should be provided free on the NHS.