The development of a nationwide central booking service for abortion

Abstract

Background Central booking services have been proven to facilitate access to abortion services. This in turn should reduce morbidity and mortality. City-wide models have previously been described. A nationwide central booking service has been developed in the UK.

Development A nationwide central booking service was introduced in 1993. Initially a manual booking system was used. In 1996 the appointment system was computerised.

Output More than a quarter of a million calls are now received each year. The highest demand weekday is a Monday. The volume of calls peaks at mid-morning. There is a sustained rise in calls from the second week in January through to mid-February, peaking in the fifth week of the year. More than a quarter of calls originate from mobile phones.

Conclusions The computerised central booking service has radically improved the efficiency of the organisation. Waiting times can be actively managed using data from the system.

Key words:

• Abortion
• Call centre
• Central booking service
• Referral