Description
This article is a management review of the
challenges facing Primary Care Trusts with the
introduction of Choice at point of referral in December
2005. Practitioners with Special Interests could be key
to developing robust primary care services. They have
unique skills in primary care and in their specialist area
which could be utilised to develop locally provided
services with rapid access that prevent hospital
appointments. If a hospital appointment is required,
they are excellently placed to provide expert
information to patients concerning their choices,
ensuring that the choice offered is clinically appropriate
for that patient.
Accurate data on referral levels in all specialties is
essential to ensure the correct level of capacity is
purchased by PCTs with appropriate secondary care
providers. This article recommends the use of a Referral
Monitoring Centre to assess the capacity needs now, to
provide accurate data collection.
