CHOICE and CHOOSE and BOOK

Choice is an NHS initiative that allows you to choose your hospital or clinic and book an appointment with a specialist using the Choose and Book electronic process. Choose and Book is gradually being introduced across England and will eventually be available to all patients for all specialists. 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. To assist you with changing or cancelling an appointment booked through the Choose and Book process please see HealthSpace which is a secure online personal health organiser. Anyone over the age of 16 and living in England can open a HealthSpace account.

Choose and Book offers a number of benefits including:

• 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.

We are pleased to confirm that the Health Centre is participating with this NHS initiative and offers this service to all patients who need to be referred to a specialist/consultant.