Abstract
BackgroundWith rising patient demand and expectations, many practices are struggling to respond to the demand for appointments.ObjectiveTo investigate different approaches to improving access to general practice and assess the impact on (i) patient experience, (ii) practice staff experience and (iii) activity in A&E and walk-in centres.MethodGreenwich CCG piloted three approaches in 12 volunteer practices. The schemes were:(1) Systematic GP telephone triage of all appointment requests.(2) Analysis and comparison of practice data including demand and capacity to identify opportunities for improvement.(3) Online consultations.Qualitative and quantitative evaluation was undertaken.ResultsOverall results were inconclusive and no one pilot scheme was overwhelmingly successful in improving patient experience of access or reducing practice workload.Scheme 1 telephone triage: In some cases, overall demand on clinician time through the day reduced as face-to-face consultations were replaced with shorter telephone consultations. However, in other practices, total consulting time went up when telephone consultations took longer than the suggested average 5 min.Scheme 2 practice analysis and benchmarking: The pilot practices implemented no significant changes.Scheme 3 online consultations: Take up was low, with users as a percentage of total list size dropping significantly to even lower levels in the second half of the pilot – from 3.13% in the first three months to 1.20% in the second three months.ConclusionAs the pilots did not improve the overall patient experience of access or practice workload, the pilot schemes were not rolled out by the CCG. From the CCG’s point of view, it was valuable to test out the effect of a scheme before committing further resources.
Highlights
Overall results were inconclusive and no one pilot scheme was overwhelmingly successful in improving patient experience of access or reducing practice workload
The CCG commissioned three different schemes aimed at improving GP access, firstly GP-led telephone triage, secondly, individualised improvements through demand/capacity analysis and thirdly, online consultations
The evaluation consisted of four aspects: (1) Tracking measures for each pilot scheme by each provider
Summary
In 2013, with the support of Greenwich CCG, a number of Greenwich practices came together to inquire into what was affecting access for their patients, to get a better shared understanding of the impact of demand and capacity and to test what models might help improve access. The CCG commissioned three different schemes aimed at improving GP access, firstly GP-led telephone triage, secondly, individualised improvements through demand/capacity analysis and thirdly, online consultations. The evaluations of these pilots are presented in this report. Results: Overall results were inconclusive and no one pilot scheme was overwhelmingly successful in improving patient experience of access or reducing practice workload. From the CCG’s point of view, it was valuable to test out the effect of a scheme before committing further resources
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call