Thousands of hospital patients in Oxfordshire will benefit from a new on-the-spot booking service.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has named the Oxfordshire Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust as one of seven pilot projects in the south-east to benefit from a new £20m Government initiative.

The projects will mean that hospital doctors will be able to book dates for operations during a patient's visit to an outpatient clinic.

GPs will also be able to book outpatient appointments while the patient is still at the surgery. Mr Blair claims that, by 2001, more than two million people nationwide should be able to book their appointments at a time which suits them and fits in with their work and other commitments.

He said: "Today's announcement builds on the success of the 24 hospitals which, since last year, have been piloting the idea of direct booking from the GP's surgery or outpatient clinic.

"It is all part of a programme that, over time, I want to see extended nationwide.

"When it is complete, it will mean that the NHS has the most advanced and patient-friendly arrangements for delivering care of any system in the world. "I have no doubt that booked appointments will prove to be as much of a revolution for the NHS as the literacy hour and numeracy hour have been for primary schools."

He says changes in booking procedures at the Radcliffe Infirmary, the John Radcliffe, and Churchill hospitals in Oxford and at The Horton, in Banbury, would be good news for patients.

Benefits would include reductions in waiting times.

Story date: Friday 03 September

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.