Referral software’s multimillions a mark of success

“Previously we used printed letters that we had to fax”

A software system designed to speed up the process for GPs to refer patients to other specialists and health providers has made more than six million referrals.

Work on the IT project started in 2009 in a partnership between PHO Pegasus Health and Canterbury DHB to design a more consistent and reliable solution.

Electronic Referral Management System (ERMS) allows GPs and other health professionals to refer their patients to specialists, and works alongside most existing practice management applications.

In 2010 it was approved for use for all five South Island DHBs and in late 2021 was adopted by the then Whanganui DHB.

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Whanganui specialist GP John McMenamin has been using the system for the past two years and says it is a major improvement on the way he used to process specialist referrals.

“Previously we used printed letters that we had to fax,” says Dr McMenamin. After he had made a referral, he had no idea whether a patient had been contacted for an appointment, or even if his letter had been received.

Dr McMenamin says with the ERMS system he can now find out all the information he needs online and keep track of a patient’s progress.

The IT solution provides a structured and standardised system for referring patients and guidance on what information he has to provide as a GP.

“As with all projects, we have had to work through some minor technical issues. But the support team has been excellent, and any problems have been readily resolved.”

Dr McMenamin, medical director of Whanganui primary healthcare provider Gonville Health, says he would like to see ERMS expanded to allow GPs to make referrals to services outside the district.

ERMS programme and product manager Joanna Jordan says for years GPs and other health providers have relied on using a variety of methods to do the job, from the postal system and faxes to emails.

The benefit of ERMS is it’s a unified system. And Mrs Jordan says it has already expanded in Whanganui to include dentists and optometrists.

But she says whether the system is expanded beyond its current user base is out of her hands and would be up to health authorities to decide whether they wanted to use it.

In a statement, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury chief medical officer Richard French says the reason for the system’s success is straightforward.

“ERMS was designed by clinicians for clinicians, which is why it is so extensively used both across the South Island and now in the North Island,” Dr French says. “In principle it was a simple idea – to create an electronic system that ensured people didn’t get lost in the system.”