RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Specialist advice for primary care: an evaluation of a gastroenterology email advice service
JF Future Hospital Journal
JO Future Hosp J
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 90
OP 93
DO 10.7861/futurehosp.3-2-90
VO 3
IS 2
A1 Alice L Fulton
A1 Horace RT Williams
A1 Jayshree Shah
A1 Lucy Phillips
A1 Jonathan Fluxman
A1 Jonathan M Hoare
YR 2016
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/3/2/90.abstract
AB Communication between primary and secondary care ­physicians is often unreliable and one sided in the form of clinic letters. Alternatively, general practitioners (GPs) may have difficulty contacting an on-call specialist via outdated hospital paging services. At Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, a gastroenterology email advice line was set up to promote dialogue and potentially help GPs deal with issues within their practices. The service has been evaluated both objectively through analysis of enquiries and subjectively through a ­survey of GPs’ views. Analysis showed a very high level of satisfaction among users of the service. There is also good evidence to suggest that the service has helped to streamline patient management and led to the avoidance of some outpatient appointments.