71 attempts! Have you submitted that as some kind of record?!
This approach completely removes the 8am rush - we have seen it pretty much disappear. Inbound patient contacts are now spread relatively evenly throughout the entire day. But the biggest win is that patients queries are now dealt with consistently by the "right" person. And by "right" person I mean those that the admin staff can deal with, they do.......those that a Physician Associate or Nurse can deal with, they do.............etc. Only those patients that genuinely need the GP's attention take up their time - and this is the BIG win. Most GPs reckon circa 50% of all the patients they see could be handled by someone else - and the ChatDoc platform plus new operational processes achieve that. I encourage you all to go take a look at the patient reviews from our pilot site - https://www.nhs.uk/services/gp-surgery/ico-health-group-moorside-clinic/G85104/ratings-and-reviews
I realize things operate differently in various countries. On this side of the pond (west of Boston MA, USA) we use Epic. I’ve mentioned this before. I can either use the patient portal too; check labs, send a message, make an apt, read a letter from my doc etc. I can still call office old way for getting in that day or next. Unless you are dealing with a specialist it’s not a big challenge to get an apt in a reasonable amount of time.
Our surgery uses eConsult and there is a team who triage the messages and give to the appropriate person to respond to. It takes about 4 minutes to fill in the form , but saves huge amounts of time .
If someone is not computer literate , then they can still call and speak to a receptionist.
Our GP is a bit like this, though preferring phone call consults wherever possible has really helped throughput while not compromising on effectiveness, it's very popular.
The NHS App e-consults help too, but anything slightly complicated it keeps directing you to call rather than allowing you to write a message of any complexity.
The fundamental problem remains, of course, that the NHS demands its GPs fit a quart of patients into a pint pot of doctor time. There's a solution, and it involves a lot more money to start with ...
Maybe my surgery should try this. Took me 71 (seventy one) attempts to even get my call connected when I tried ringing as soon as the lines opened on Tuesday
71 attempts! Have you submitted that as some kind of record?!
This approach completely removes the 8am rush - we have seen it pretty much disappear. Inbound patient contacts are now spread relatively evenly throughout the entire day. But the biggest win is that patients queries are now dealt with consistently by the "right" person. And by "right" person I mean those that the admin staff can deal with, they do.......those that a Physician Associate or Nurse can deal with, they do.............etc. Only those patients that genuinely need the GP's attention take up their time - and this is the BIG win. Most GPs reckon circa 50% of all the patients they see could be handled by someone else - and the ChatDoc platform plus new operational processes achieve that. I encourage you all to go take a look at the patient reviews from our pilot site - https://www.nhs.uk/services/gp-surgery/ico-health-group-moorside-clinic/G85104/ratings-and-reviews
Please get in touch if ChatDoc is of interest.
I realize things operate differently in various countries. On this side of the pond (west of Boston MA, USA) we use Epic. I’ve mentioned this before. I can either use the patient portal too; check labs, send a message, make an apt, read a letter from my doc etc. I can still call office old way for getting in that day or next. Unless you are dealing with a specialist it’s not a big challenge to get an apt in a reasonable amount of time.
Jerry from MA
Our surgery uses eConsult and there is a team who triage the messages and give to the appropriate person to respond to. It takes about 4 minutes to fill in the form , but saves huge amounts of time .
If someone is not computer literate , then they can still call and speak to a receptionist.
It’s not perfect, but is a start .
Our GP is a bit like this, though preferring phone call consults wherever possible has really helped throughput while not compromising on effectiveness, it's very popular.
The NHS App e-consults help too, but anything slightly complicated it keeps directing you to call rather than allowing you to write a message of any complexity.
The fundamental problem remains, of course, that the NHS demands its GPs fit a quart of patients into a pint pot of doctor time. There's a solution, and it involves a lot more money to start with ...
Maybe my surgery should try this. Took me 71 (seventy one) attempts to even get my call connected when I tried ringing as soon as the lines opened on Tuesday