GP referrals moving to electronic system

Photo/File

Doctors across the country are swapping their illegible notes for electronic referral forms, but Wanganui is still to catch up.

Of the 20 district health boards in New Zealand, Wanganui's is one of the four that have not implemented the new eReferral system yet.

"The Whanganui District Health Board (WDHB) will start to implement the regional clinical portal this year as part of the Central Region Information Systems Plan (CRISP)," said health board ICT manager Barry Morris.

"The clinical portal provides the ability for GP practices to send their referrals electronically to central region DHBs.

"Later this year, the WDHB will be working with local GPs and the Whanganui Regional Health Network to plan the implementation of the eReferral system."

Instead of handwritten notes, doctors will be able to fill out an electronic form when patients need to be referred on to the hospital, reducing the amount of time patients need to wait for an appointment.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said nearly half a million patient referrals were sent electronically last year.

"Only a few years ago, referring a patient for specialist care was a paper-based process with most GPs faxing a handwritten note to the hospital," Mr Ryall said.

"Despite best intentions, pieces of paper would sometimes get lost and the handwritten notes weren't always legible or complete which could result in a patient's appointment being delayed."

The electronic system had sections, such as current patient medication, that had to be filled out before the form could be sent. "This means hospital specialists are receiving better-quality information and are less likely to have to request further information from the referring GP - delaying the patient's appointment," Mr Ryall said.

The four DHBs still to adopt the government-funded system - Wanganui, Nelson Marlborough, Southern and Midcentral - are expected to join the system this year.