Referral management
Information at the point of care is the means to better care, better outcomes and reduced costs. As a locally relevant knowledge resource, the Map can be used to highlight clinic information, bring local referral criteria, guidelines and forms together in one location and signpost the availability of local services.
Use of the Map's patient centric approach has resulted in reduced hospital admissions, lower waiting times, more appropriate referrals and a reduction in inappropriate referrals. The Map of Medicine implementation strategy encourages the use of multidisciplinary teams, including patients and carers, in the development of local services, giving patients more voice within local commissioning decisions.
The Map is freely available at the point of use for the NHS and social care, providing a common framework to communicate across care settings and organisations the patient pathway. Local Patient Access extends this framework to patients.