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Mallow General Hospital is one of the acute hospitals to have introduced an electronic referral system for GPs as part of a HSE national pilot project. Photo: iStock

By Lisa O’Donnell

Mallow General Hospital is one of the acute hospitals in Cork and Kerry that have introduced an electronic referral system for GPs, referring patients for public outpatient hospital appointments as part of a HSE national pilot project.

The Mercy University Hospital was the first hospital to accept such electronic referrals from GPs, and since then numerous other hospitals in the region have made the electronic system available, including Cork University Hospital, the South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital, Kerry General Hospital and Bantry General Hospital.

Tallaght Hospital is also part of the pilot project and is accepting electronic referrals to its paediatric services.

To date almost 7,000 electronic referrals have been received by the pilot hospitals with nearly 46 per cent of all Cork and Kerry based GPs using the system.

PROVING BENEFICIAL

This new system greatly improves the overall patient experience by providing quicker access to outpatient appointments, reduced duplication and delays, and faster and easier access to a consultant opinion, as electronic referrals are transmitted to the hospital safely and immediately.

It also has many benefits for GPs, as they can get an immediate acknowledgement of the referral and a prompt response, making it a traceable system.

Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, a Cork based GP, has recently started using the system and considers it to be ‘quite intuitive’ and ‘user friendly’.

“Crucially receipt is acknowledged, ending the potential for ‘the letter never arrived' scenario,” Dr Quinlan said. “The triage is entered seamlessly into the patient file, with the potential for the GP to electronically sign all returns.”

The system has been designed in a way that can be rolled out nationally to all GPs and acute hospitals, and due to the success of the pilot phase, a number of other hospitals are now interested in starting the process.

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