Alternatives
Compared with how it is done now.
Most services assess patients on paper or by phone, and do it competently. These pages set out what each approach does well, where it strains, and what changes when assessment moves to the point of booking.
Comparisons
Alternatives to paper pre-admission forms
Paper pre-admission questionnaires are reliable, need no phone or connectivity, and reach patients a digital pathway cannot. They strain on return rate, legibility, medication accuracy and timing: a form posted out and returned weeks later arrives as a document to be read rather than structured findings that can be screened.
Read the comparisonAlternatives to telephone pre-assessment
Telephone pre-assessment gets nuance, rapport and follow-up questions no form anticipates, and a skilled assessor hears things a questionnaire never surfaces. It does not scale: every patient costs a clinician's time at a moment that suits the service, so it is rationed to the patients someone already suspected were complex.
Read the comparison