CHANGE TO THE URGENT SAME DAY APPOINTMENT REQUEST PROCESS

Following feedback we have postponed our plans to introduce our new patient triage service until 24th May 2021. This will give patients 28 days to express their views and comments.

We have had to make this decision to introduce this change as the process that we are presently using is no longer sustainable.  We are receiving an increasing amount of requests to speak to a Clinician urgently- last week there were an average of 81 requests per day. A lot of these requests would have been more suited for a routine appointment or for an alternative service.

This will mean patients requiring a same day (Urgent) appointment will still contact the surgery by telephone between 8am and 10am. The Receptionist will ask the nature of the problem and if applicable will be able to effectively signpost them using “Care Navigation” according to their problem to a suitable alternative service (For eg- Pharmacy, Dentist, Optician, Minor injury unit, Physiotherapy etc)

If Care Navigation is not applicable, the patient will be sent a link by text through an authorised secure platform (Accurx) asking for information about their urgent condition. We will ask that the information is returned as soon as possible after recieving the link.                      

Once the response is received, it will be reviewed by a Clinician and the patient will then be contacted by them with appropriate advice relating to their condition.

For those patients who do not have access to the internet or texting facilities, they will still be able to contact the surgery by telephone and make a same day urgent appointment request to discuss their condition with a Clinician after they have been “Care Navigated” by the Receptionist.

Our goal is to navigate patients to the most appropriate service to meet their need and also ultimately to increase the number of routine appointments that we will have available for patients to book.

To inform patients of this process change, posters have been displayed in the waiting area, message slips have been stapled to prescriptions, texts sent to those patients with mobiles and through information on our Facebook and website.

We welcome any views or comments that you may have.