ELDERLY patients are getting "lost in the system" and missing on appointments because of confusion over new booking rules, NHS complaints officers have said.

Government reforms which allow patients to choose the time and date of their hospital appointment after seeing their GP had led to problems, they said.

The system, introduced in January, allows patients to call a telephone booking line if they cannot decide when to have their appointment.

This had led to a "big increase" in complaints to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service, said the official watchdog arm of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale NHS Primary Care Trust.

And the chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen PCT also said "issues have arisen and are being dealt with".

The Burnley officers, Carol Kerr and Sharon Walkden, told PCT bosses an automated telephone system was partly to blame for confusion. They said the Patient Advice and Liaison Service had "had several cases of referrals getting lost in the system".

They added: "Elderly patients, in particular, find the automated telephone system difficult to negotiate. Patients have raised concerns about the new referral process and the options which are offered at the point of choice, this is leaving many people, particularly the elderly, very anxious and confused."

A meeting has been arranged with the team which takes the calls, the Referral Management Centre at Cobham House, Blackburn.

Under the system the patient tells their GP or the centre when they want to be seen and are given the nearest appointment if a specific time is not available.

This has led to concern that consultants are no longer in charge of which patients are seen first.

Today chief executives defended the new system. Burnley PCT boss David Peat said: "Choice for many people is a major shock to the system because a certain generation are used to being told where to go. But we have to give people the choice. It is about empowerment."

Paul Hinnigan, acting chief executive of Blackburn PCT, said: "For the vast majority of patients the new choose and book system is working well.

"As with the introduction of any significant change a small number of issues have arisen and are being dealt with in order that the service to patients can be improved. Feedback from patients is an important part of the process."

The system has been introduced as part of the Government's drive to give patients more choice over care.