Choose & Book

Choose and Book is a new service that allows you to choose your hospital or clinic and to book an appointment with a specialist. Since summer 2005, Choose and Book has been introduced to our Practice. Research has shown that patients want to be more involved in making decisions and choosing their healthcare.

Most of the patients who are offered a choice of hospital view the experience as positive and valuable. So the NHS is changing to give you more choice and flexibility in how you are treated.

Choose and Book is one of the first schemes that brings about this change, allowing you to choose the hospital where you will be seen by a specialist. When you and your GP agree that you need to see a specialist, you will be able to choose from at least four hospitals or clinics. You will also be able to choose the date and time of your appointment.

The benefits of Choose and Book:

• You can choose from at least four hospitals.
• You can also choose the date and time for your appointment.
• You experience greater convenience and certainty. With the old system, your hospital or clinic chose the date and time of your appointment. This may not have been convenient for you. With Choose and Book, the choice is yours.
• There is less chance that information will get lost in the post because more correspondence takes place through computers.

If you require further information please visit the NHS Choose and Book website by clicking on the following link: http://www.chooseandbook.nhs.uk/patients

Should a patient wish to go private with a referral it is up to the patient to do the research on who they wish to be referred to. They will also need to speak to their GP to do this referral.

For more information on referrals please visit About Devon Referral Support Service (myhealth-devon.nhs.uk)