UK: E-Referrals To Be Open Source

Two suppliers have been shortlisted to develop an open source ‘NHS e-referrals service’ that will be officially launched next month. Beverley Bryant, NHS England's director of strategic systems and technology, told EHI that plans for a new e-referrals service had been given the “green light”.

IT companies BJSS and Valtech are short-listed to do the development work and the contract winner will be announced soon. The current e-booking service for outpatient appointments, Choose and Book, is built on an implementation of Cerner’s Millennium product, using the person and scheduling modules.

The development partner will develop a new integration engine using agile methodology to replatform off Millennium and the intellectual property will be owned by the NHS. “The vision is that the back engine will be an open source development,” said Bryant...