NHS England Wessex and Thames Valley Dental Electronic Referral System (DERS)

Every patient journey to NHS specialist dental care should begin with a visit to his or her primary dental care practitioner from whom they receive regular care. This dentist may work in primary care or in a community dental service. If a patient requires a complex procedure, has modifying factors that make routine dental care complex, or requires additional equipment or facilities to deliver care then a referral to a specialist service maybe required.

NHS England - South (Wessex and Thames Valley), the Commissioners, are seeking to procure a Dental Electronic Referral System (DERS) that can manage all orthodontic, restorative and oral surgery referrals for NHS dental services for patients across the Wessex and Thames Valley region (which includes Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire).

The system requirement is expected to include the ability to transfer patient data and clinical imaging securely, ability to accept referrals and the ability to send/receive secure messages between the referee and the service provider. There is also potential for other commissioners and commissioning areas to use this system in the future.

The system will have the capability of managing up to 5 million patient dental records and will used by over 1250 separate dental practices, both NHS and community dental service providers.

The overall aims of the system are to:

• Provide clinicians with a single efficient mechanism to refer patients that require NHS specialist led dental services that cannot be provided by the patients primary care or specialist dentist

• Ensure the efficient and effective use of specialist services in support of primary dental care provision

• Improve the quality of referrals in order to support effective triage, including the transfer of imaging or investigations relevant to clinical treatment

• Enable patients to access care that is most suited to their needs

• Provide accurate referral information to support clinical service evaluation and future service development

• Achieve long term value for money

• Limit potential areas that may compromise the patient journey and safety

• Ensure patients can track their dental referral, taking into account any special requirements for communication.

To receive further details of this project please access the following link:

https://nhsengland.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html

Once registered on the portal, please access Tender 3819 to view the tender documentation.