Sax Quacks               Drs Havard, Evans, Murphy, Hamblyn, Dunn, Oates & Richards Referred by your Doctor? If a GP decides that you need to be referred for further care they can do this one of two ways. You can either be  referred "manually" using typed letters which are sent in the post/by email/by fax to which ever hospital the GP  feels appropriate (usually Ipswich or James Paget) or they could refer you using the electronic Choose & Book  system. For more information about both methods carry on reading...  Paper referrals  When not using the choose and book system a GP will dictate a referral  letter which is then typed by a secretary and sent to the relevant hospital.  Almost all of the referrals go to Ipswich Hospital or James Paget. The  hospital will then contact the patient with an appointment. Choose & Book We have been using Choose & Book since October 2006. This way of referring patients means that patients get  more choice about the time of their appointment and which hospital they attend. This choice is  dependent on NHS contracts but patients are able to chose hospitals on a more national basis.  For example if an appointment is available at a hospital in London with a shorter waiting list  than a local hospital, then if the patient is happy to travel, they may chose to be seen in  London. When the GP initiates the referral, the electronic system will give a list of hospital  options and choice of appointment times. Patients ring a central booking line where they can  then chose and appointment date and time.  Choose & Book also means that the practice secretaries can send the referral letter off electronically to the relevant  hospital which is much quicker and more secure than sending a paper copy.    For more information on choose & book click here to view a patient leaflet or visit the national choose & book  website   Advice & Guidance  With the NHS being subjected to increasingly tight budgets the pressure is on to save as much money as possible,  but without compromising patient care. Saxmundham first piloted the Advice Letter Listing (ALL) project in 2010 in  conjunction with Ipswich Hospital. This uses the technology of Choose & Book, but rather than sending over a  referral letter, asking the Consultant to review a patient in their outpatient clinic, in the first instance the GP sends  the information over the the Consultant who can either recommend an outpatient appointment, or an alternative  management plan which can be followed in the community. This not only saves the patient an unnecessary trip to  hospital, it also avoids the cost involved in an outpatient appointment.   This project was initially just used by a few hospital specialities, but is to be rolled out to the majority of  departments at Ipswich Hospital during 2011/12.  If you have a query regarding your referral you can contact one of our practice secretaries, either by telephone (01728 602022) or using their email address suf-pct.saxmundhamsecretary@nhs.net