Lingwell Croft Surgery in Middleton, Leeds, is a practice that consists of nine General Practitioners (GP), three Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP), two Pharmacists, a Pharmacy Technician, as well as a Nursing team of nine. They have approximately 15,000 registered patients.
The team at Lingwell Croft Surgery have recently introduced in the last few months a new Total Digital Triage system for their appointments. This means patients wanting a consultation with a GP or an ANP are required to complete an online consultation request through PATCHS or use the PATCHS Telephone Assistant to submit a consultation request before an appointment is allocated.
An onlIne consultation request is completed for all patients requesting a GP or ANP appointment. This is proving a quicker and more efficient alternative to patients having to phone the surgery and wait in a long queuing system.
Our ambition is to offer more convenience, choice and control for people when accessing GP services, helping them to be more informed and involved in decisions about their own healthcare.
Making the best use of technology is an important part of the care we provide.
When GP Online Consultation became a contractual requirement back in April 2020, the practice implemented eConsult as their chosen supplier, however, this led to an increase in demand and increased pressure on the practice team, so they started to look at how online consultations could be used effectively and reduce some of the problems that the practice were facing.
The practice had issues with their phone lines and the admin staff felt excessive pressure from the sheer volume of calls on a daily basis, therefore this was one of the main driving forces for the practice to adopt the Modern General Practice model, using Total Digital Triage, as well as reaching out to targeted patient groups to inform and support them with the changes.
PATCHS Telephone Assistant has been a key element to implementing this model successfully as the practice now receive around 40-50 requests per day through this route, all of which are processed in the same way as requests that have been submitted online.
This new way of contacting the surgery through PATCHS Online or the PATCHS Telephone Assistant has many benefits for patients which include;
- No queuing on the phone
- Getting help quicker from a GP or ANP as more clinician time available
- The ability to do everything online inc. Prescriptions, Consultations, Sick Notes, Results etc.
- Submitting requests on behalf of someone you care for
- Supports digital inclusivity
- Appointments being allocated appropriately based on clinical decision making and Care Navigation, creating additional capacity for more same-day appointments and quicker routine appointments.
As a result of the total triage model now being in place, it means there are only approximately 2-3 patients in the telephone queue at any one time waiting to speak to a receptionist. This is compared to around 30 patients queuing pre-August 2023, before the total triage system was introduced, therefore greatly reducing pressure on administration staff.
The GPs, ANPs and practice staff themselves are very happy overall with the way the hub is now working and positive feedback has been received from all. Further to this, the data collected so far shows an increase in the number of Online Consultation requests coming through to the surgery since the new model was launched with more appointments being available.
Dr Stephan Claridge, GP Lead at Lingwell Croft Surgery and Clinical Director for Middleton and Hunslet Primary Care Network (PCN) commented:
“As a team we are happier with this new robust system in place, and it has helped us to greatly improve the day to day running of the surgery. With the total digital triage in place, we are now seeing a decline in appointments needed by patients therefore freeing up more of our clinicians’ time for patients that do need more help. I believe this really has made a positive impact for both our patients and our surgery team.”
Over the coming months, the surgery team are looking to take advantage of more of the PATCHS advanced features and functionality and already have some of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) features enabled as well as the Language Translation. These are proving invaluable to both patients and practice staff alike.