BJSS is pleased to announce its work with NHS Digital to build the NHS e-Referral Service (NHS e-RS) has saved the NHS £10 million in its first year of operation.

The saving has been achieved due to this collaboration, resulting in a 60 per cent reduction in running costs compared to the Choose and Book system, which the NHS e-Referral Service replaced in June 2015.

NHS Digital has previously commissioned BJSS to work collaboratively to build one of the largest Open Source systems in the public sector, Spine 2, a critical part of the national healthcare infrastructure.

Adopting the BJSS Enterprise Agile approach enabled the joint NHS Digital and BJSS team to deliver a system with an 89 per cent reduction in response time, saving the NHS 750 hours every day. This includes the development of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which will enable GP clinical systems, secondary care provider systems and third-party applications to interact with the NHS e-RS directly, removing the need for users to swap between applications and the professional user interface. It is expected that the first set of pilot APIs will be delivered to third party users by the end of 2016.

Beverley Bryant, Director of Digital Transformation at NHS Digital, said: "Like the NHS Spine, which was redeveloped two years ago, the NHS e-Referral Service is benefiting from new software and agile working. Together, the systems have saved the NHS more than £70million, demonstrating the ways in which technology can benefit the NHS.”

Mike Buck, Head of Delivery and Practice Lead at BJSS says: “We are delighted with the exceptional results from the new NHS e-Referral Service, through the development of our work with the NHS Spine a few years ago and now the e-Referral Service. It is not only a testament of innovation in healthcare technology, but demonstrable proof Open Source can be used to deliver complex software solutions on a national scale.”

The NHS Spine is designed to allow developers and local teams to more easily develop innovative solutions to address the particular needs of patients and users. New assurance processes make it possible to safely bring new technologies to market faster than ever before.

Mike continues: “NHS Spine has provided far greater flexibility, enabling those working in healthcare to respond more effectively to customer demands and making it much easier for other suppliers to integrate with the infrastructure. We are extremely proud of the results and our contribution to this key piece of national healthcare infrastructure.”