Improving Referrals to Tertiary Care - Oxford Acute Referral System (OARS)

There is opportunity to improve the safety and efficiency of referrals made to specialist centres in hospitals providing tertiary care. Current systems of work typically rely on telephone conversations and unstructured paper... [ view full abstract ]

There is opportunity to improve the safety and efficiency of referrals made to specialist centres in hospitals providing tertiary care. Current systems of work typically rely on telephone conversations and unstructured paper notes. This abstract reports on a project to develop and implement an electronic referral system that will be accessed by hospitals in the Oxford region on the secure hospital network.
Process and patient outcome data is being collected to evaluate the impact of implementing this system. Anticipated benefits include provision of a more comprehensive and reliable set of referral information for use by the hospital teams involved.