Tauranga City GPs are endorsing a reduction in paperwork clutter as they swap pens for keyboards by referring patients for specialist care online – reducing how long their patients wait for an appointment.

Health Minister Tony Ryall announced this week 16 district health boards nationwide, including the Bay of Plenty District Health Board, have made the switch to an e-referral system between GPs and hospitals.

The eReferral system is in use at Second Avenue Accident and Healthcare.

When a patient needs to be referred to a hospital specialist for further assessment or treatment, GPs can now complete an electronic referral form, send it at the touch of a button and receive an immediate notification that it has been received.

Health Minister Tony Ryall says last year general practices sent nearly half a million patient referrals electronically to public hospitals.

'Only a few years ago, referring a patient for specialist care was a paper based process with most GPs faxing a handwritten note to the hospital,” say Tony.

'Despite best intentions, pieces of paper would sometimes get lost and the handwritten notes weren't always legible or complete which could result in a patient's appointment being delayed.”

Papamoa Pines Medical Centre practice manager Wendy Bibby says the system has been incorporated into the centre's daily procedures for quite some time – with effective ease.

'I think the doctors are finding it a lot easier to input their information and just with a flick it just goes off and comes back in their inbox that it's been received,” says Wendy.

'Prior to that we were always faxing and sometimes when you rely on that system you think ‘oh once it's gone through the fax machine it's there' but that is all very good but it might get lost somewhere.”

Second Avenue Accident and Healthcare manager Dave Gilbert says the new system is receiving resounding thumbs up from the centre's clinicians.

'The response has been good and it seems to be working well,” says Dave.

'From our point of view it's a lot easier and the system is a lot better.”

Tony says the centre also has sections, such as current medications, which must be completed before the form can be sent.

'This means hospital specialists are receiving better quality information and are less likely to have to request further information from the referring GP – delaying the patient's appointment.

'This is great for patients – they are getting the specialist care they need faster.”

Funded by the Government, the eReferral system is being used by 16 district health boards with the four remaining district health boards, MidCentral, Nelson Marlborough, Southern and Whanganui, all introducing the system this year.