The Trust’s Network of On-Call Referral Services (NORSE) has been shortlisted by a national newspaper in its Public Service Awards 2019 under the category of digital innovation.

NORSE is up against two private companies and will now go through to the final at the end of November.

NORSE is a secure web application that allows referrals to log an emergency referral request. There are currently 18 specialisms using NORSE.

The referring clinician completes an online form with the patient's details, a brief summary of the clinical problem and investigation findings to date.

When a referral request is logged, the specialty on-call mobile device receives an email alerting the team that a request has been received. A specialty-specific management plan is then sent to the external trust.

When someone makes a referral via NORSE, they must inform the referred department by telephone first. The system is not designed to replace telephone calls, but to support them.

In the last 12 months, 62 trusts have referred patients to UHB via NORSE.

NORSE helps to save time by preventing duplication and telephone delays. It also saves money by helping to prevent unnecessary admissions and improves patient care by preventing communication errors and poor quality records.

Benefits include:

• a clear audit trail as to what was requested and advised
• instant email notifications for updates to referrals
• users can only view referrals they have logged, or that have been shared with them