Comms system to be piloted in East of England
A pilot communications system enabling GPs to liaise with consultants is due to go live in the East of England in the next couple of weeks, with more than 400 clinicians currently registered to use it. Shane Gordon, associate medical director of NHS East of England has developed Confer over the past year in collaboration with Cloud2. The system gives GPs and consultants options including instant messaging, email, requests for phone consultations and scheduling future 'confers'. Gordon said: "If a GP is not certain whether a patient needs to be referred or admitted, currently the only option is to send them on to the hospital. For patients who turn out not to have a serious condition, or don't need to be there, the process can be quite distressing and even frightening."
