We are supporting the NHS to deliver better and safer care, via new computer systems and services, which link GPs and community services to hospitals.

We aim to 'put patients at the heart of what we do', so this is a brief guide of what we offer now and will offer in the future, to help you to understand how you benefit as a patient.

Feel free to delve a little deeper and visit the content areas - these are largely for staff but you may find them helpful.

Choose and Book

Choose and Book is a national electronic referral service which gives patients a choice of place, date and time for their first outpatient appointment in a hospital or clinic.

Patients can choose their hospital or clinic and then book their appointment to see a specialist with a member of the practice team, at the GP surgery or at home by telephone or over the internet, at a time more convenient to them.

Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)

The Electronic Prescription Service will enable prescribers - such as GPs and practice nurses - to send prescriptions electronically to a dispenser (such as a pharmacy) of a patient's choice. This will make the prescribing and dispensing process safer and more convenient for patients and staff.

GP2GP

GP2GP enables patients' electronic health records to be transferred directly and securely between GP practices. It improves patient care as GPs will usually have full and detailed medical records available to them for a new patient's first consultation.

HealthSpace

HealthSpace is a secure website where patients can store their personal health information online, such as height, weight and blood pressure. In time, it will give people electronic access to parts of their NHS Care Record.

NHS Care Records Service (NHS CRS)

The NHS Care Records Service will improve the safety and quality of patient care. It will give health care staff faster, easier access to reliable information about patients to help with their treatment.

NHS Number

The NHS Number is fundamental to the National Programme for IT. It is the common unique identifier that makes it possible to share patient information across the whole of the NHS safely, efficiently and accurately.

Patient case studies

Patient case studies are a helpful way to learn from other patients' experiences of our new technologies that are already in place.

Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS)

PACS enables images such as x-rays and scans to be stored electronically and viewed on screens, so that doctors and other health professionals can access the information and compare it with previous images at the touch of a button. It makes x-rays on film a thing of the past, leading to faster and improved diagnosis methods.

Research Capability Programme

The Research Capability Programme has a primary objective: to enable research to achieve its full potential as a 'core' activity for healthcare. This is alongside other uses of NHS data that lead to improvements in the quality and safety of care.

There is strict criterion for the uses of patient information for research, to ensure there will be effective mechanisms to protect identifiable personal and confidential information, and to seek appropriate consent.

Social Care Integration Project (SCIP)

The Social Care Integration Project is an NHS Connecting for Health project which aims to enable improved outcomes for people using health and social care services, through enabling better, more seamless service delivery between NHS and adult social services.

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