Change in Appointment Model

Posted on December 1st, 2022

Why?

We know that access to appointments is proving difficult and stressful for patients, staff and clinicians alike. We want to trial a change to improve availability of appointments.

What is changing?

All requests for urgent GP appointments are triaged by a clinician and we ask that all requests for Urgent on the Day appointments and Home Visits are received by 11am.

Reception will ask a short series of pre-set questions – what are the symptoms, when did it start, are your symptoms stable, getting better, or getting worse, what would you like from your appointment, etc. Responses will be recorded on the medical record and remain confidential. This information will be passed to the triaging GP who will then advise on an appropriate timeframe for the appointment, or indeed if the matter can be sorted without the need for an appointment. Reception will contact you that morning to let you know of the outcome. Everyone will be offered something without the need to call reception back.

In some cases the GP may feel that an appointment with one of our highly qualified ARRS staff would be more appropriate. Our practice currently has access to paramedics, clinical pharmacists, first contact physio therapists and mental health workers alongside the ability to refer patients into the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS).

If your issue is not medically urgent and can wait then the reception team will still be able to book routine non-urgent appointments directly 2-3 weeks in advance.