‘Patient Partner is a marvellous system’ says Kingsthorne Group Practice

First opened in 1919, the Kingsthorne Group Practice in Doncaster now consists of two surgeries: the main surgery in the town centre and a branch surgery in Edenthorpe, which was once a village on the outskirts of Doncaster but which has become subsumed by the growth of town. The practice is a substantial size, with a total of 9,300 patients of mixed demography patients on its list.  There are six partners, one registrar and one F2 currently at the practice, plus four nurses and twelve reception and administrative staff.

Patient access is a problem for many GP surgeries and is also an issue that has been identified by the government. Senior staff at the Kingsthorne Group Practice decided to install an automated appointment booking system in order to reduce the number of calls into the reception team and to offer their patients increased flexibility in making appointments.  “We felt that using Patient Partner would enable us to give our patients a better service, as well as reducing pressure on our reception team,” explains Practice Manager, Alison Maw. “We were keen to offer them the opportunity to book their appointments at any time of day as we felt this would improve patient access. However, we did have some concerns prior to going ahead, mainly about how much our patients would use the system.”

Fortunately, this concern has been allayed by a very positive response from the patients, although Alison admits that they are eager to continue encouraging a greater uptake of the service. “The patients who have used Patient Partner really love it: they find the ease of use great. We do need to continue promoting the service to our patients and are currently using our flu vaccine sessions as an opportunity to do this.”

Alison reports that Patient Partner has really come into its own since they installed SystmOne in June 2009 (a service which integrates with Patient Partner and enables patients to also book appointments online), and that the two systems complement each other well. Using the two services in conjunction has had a very positive impact on the day to day running of the practice. In terms of improving the patient experience, Alison feels that Patient Partner has achieved the original objective of making it easier for them to contact both surgeries. She also believes that using the system has improved patient access and satisfaction.

From a staff perspective, Patient Partner has improved the whole process of call handling, meaning that the receptionists now have more time to attend to other areas of patient care. “Since we have been using Patient Partner, the number of calls coming in to reception has significantly reduced,” comments Alison. “We hope to continue this trend as patients become more aware of the system. It also has the added benefit of enabling patients to cancel appointments at the weekend so we are aware first thing on Monday morning of any appointments that have become available over the weekend.”

1. Ease of use: no special passwords etc. are needed; the patients can just use it
2. The system is available 24 hours a day
3. It frees up reception time

Now that Patient Partner has bedded in so well, Alison has also made some suggestions for ways in which the system could be developed still further to accommodate the varying demands of the practice, which have been taken on board by Voice Connect. “I mentioned that it would be helpful if there was a way of enabling different nurse appointments to be selected related to a time length,” she comments. “So the staff at Voice Connect have been working with us to facilitate this and we hope to have this up and running shortly. In fact, the support from Voice Connect has been very good throughout.”

Alison feels that the difference that Patient Partner has made to the practice is significant, with the potential to become even more widely used. “Patient Partner is a marvellous system that enables patients to have better access to appointments – you just need to ensure that you get the message over to all the patients so they can take advantage of the system,” she says. “If a surgery with similar issues to ours was considering installing Patient Partner, I would advise them to promote the system and go for it.”

A GPs’ surgery has been commended for its use of technology to improve patient access. Hampton Hill Medical Centre (www.hamptonhillmedicalcentre.com) in Middlesex was announced as the Vision Practice of the Year last month (January 2010) in recognition of the innovations that the practice has put in place during the past two years in the form of an automated phone and online appointment booking system, as well as an SMS messaging service for patients.

The centre, which has over 7,200 patients on its register, initiated the measures to improve the overall patient experience. “One of the first areas we looked at was communication,” explained Kerry Morley, Practice Manager at Hampton Hill. “Poor communication is a common problem at many practices across the country and is essential to both the smooth running of the surgery and patient satisfaction.”

The practice decided to install an automated booking service known as Patient Partner, developed by integrated communications specialist Voice Connect. The system enables patients to call and book or cancel appointments at anytime, except for a short window of time between 2am and 4am when the service is updated. “Patient Partner has eased call congestion and offers our patients increased flexibility in making appointments which they appreciate,” comments Kerry. “In conjunction with our other innovations, the system has greatly enhanced the service that we offer our patients.”

The practice has also introduced a service known as Vision Online which enables patients to book appointments and manage their healthcare online. In addition, patients are reminded about appointments and are invited to health check and surgery events via SMS text messaging.

“It is gratifying to have all the effort that we have put into improving services for our patients recognised, not just by the patients themselves, but also by the presentation of this award,” comments Kerry.

Missed appointments cost the NHS an estimated £600 million each year, with around 6.5 million appointments missed from 2007 to 2008. “Patient Partner was originally developed to help with the issue of missed appointments and poor communication,” explains Voice Connect’s Managing Director Stefan Olsberg. “So it is pleasing to hear that this, and other advances in technology, can make such a useful contribution to GPs’ surgeries.”

Book appointments any time at Boson medical practice

ONE of Boston’s largest medical practices has just unveiled a cutting edge system that will allow its patients to book appointments at any time of the day or night.

Westside Surgery, which has more than 8,000 patients, this week launched a new telephone system known as Patient Partner which enables people to call the surgery 24 hours a day to schedule a consultation with a doctor.

The practice says the system, together with its new online booking and prescription ordering service and late night opening on Monday and Tuesdays, will make it much easier for patients to access its services.

Practice manager Bronya Glet told the Target: “We are always keen to listen to what our patients want and the introduction of an automated system offers a great way of improving communication and choice for patients.

“Patient Partner is very easy to use. It detects spaces in the doctors’ diaries and allows the patient to choose the appointment time which best suits them by pressing a button on their touch tone phone.

“Naturally our patients may still call and speak with a receptionist if they wish.

“However, this new service enables them to bypass reception and call at anytime.

“This is particularly convenient for our working patients including those who work unsociable hours.

“It will also release time for our receptionists to attend to patient care.

“We are confident that it will be a great bonus for both patients and staff at Westside.”

For information about Westside Surgery log onto its website at www.westsidesurgery.co.uk

CLICK HERE to view story within the Boston Target.

Boston surgery makes it easier for patients to get in touch

Westside Surgery in Boston has launched a series of new measures designed to make it much easier for their patients to get in touch. The most recent initiative is the introduction of a new phone system known as Patient Partner which enables patients to call the surgery at any time of the night or day to book or cancel appointments. The service is due to go live at the surgery on Tuesday 16th February.  Together with the online booking and prescription ordering service and late night opening on Monday and Tuesday evenings, Patient Partner will make it much easier for surgery’s 8000 patients to access its services.

Patient Partner, which is already working successfully at another surgery in the area, complements Westside Surgery’s online booking and prescription service, SystmOnline.  Patient Partner has been specially designed by telecoms company Voice Connect to ease the problems that patients can face when trying to contact their local surgery by phone, offering increased choice in how and when appointments are made.

“We are always keen to listen to what our patients want and the introduction of an automated system offers a great way of improving communication and choice for patients,” explains Bronya Glet, Practice Manager at Westside Surgery. “Patient Partner is very easy to use: it detects spaces in the doctors’ diaries and allows the patient to choose the appointment time which best suits them by pressing a button on their touch tone phone.”

“Naturally our patients may still call and speak with a receptionist if they wish,” comments Bronya. “However, this new service enables them to bypass reception and call at anytime. This is particularly convenient for our working patients, including those who work unsociable hours. It will also release time for our receptionists to attend to patient care.  We are confident that it will be a great bonus for both patients and staff at Westside.”

Vision Practice of the Year

The 2009 Vision Practice of the Year has been announced. This year’s winning practice uses innovative technology to provide competitive services and improve patient access to the practice.

Hampton Hill Medical Centre in Middlesex were awarded the title of Vision Practice of the Year for their utilisation of additional patient-centric solutions, including:

• Voice Connect’s Patient Partner automated telephone-based appointment booking service;
• SMS text messaging to remind patients about their appointments;
• Vision Online Services web-based appointment service.

Voice Connect would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone at the practice.

Medical Messenger (SMS text messaging) is a unique solution that provides your practice with a low cost way to communicate with patients by letter and/or FREE text messages.  Whilst there are other solutions available for text messaging, Medical Messenger provides you with a complete postal service, which includes paper/envelopes, printing, preparation and postage for just 30p per letter.

All you need is the Medical Messenger software and an NHS Mail account.  The annual licence fee for Medical Messenger relates to your patient list size and costs between £350 -£550 per annum.  Text messages are FREE and the postal service account credit starts from £300 + VAT, which equals one thousand letters at 30p per letter. (Prices exclude VAT)

To obtain your FREE Medical Messenger (SMS text messaging) Information Pack CLICK HERE adding the word ‘info’ to the email subject line.

Your Secure Patient Communication Solution Provides a 40% Saving on Postal Costs and Unlimited FREE Text Messages

The demands placed upon practice staff to communicate with patients and the associated costs to your practice are greater than ever.  A number of letters leave your practice each week confirming appointments to attend specific clinics, alerting patients to the availability of flu/swine flu vaccinations and for healthcare promotion.  On average, it costs your practice 59p per letter? – including stationary, printing, your/staff time and the price for postage.

The government is also insisting that practices contact patients to remind them to attend their appointments or cancel unwanted appointments in order to reduce, DNAs (did not attends) and the associated costs incurred by NHS.

Medical Messenger is a unique solution that provides your practice with a low cost way to communicate with patients by letter and/or FREE text messages.  Whilst there are other solutions available for text messaging, Medical Messenger provides you with a complete postal service, which includes paper/envelopes, printing, preparation and postage for just 30p per letter.

All you need is the Medical Messenger software and an NHS Mail account.  The annual licence fee for Medical Messenger relates to your patient list size and costs between £350 -£550 per annum.  Text messages are FREE and the postal service account credit starts from £300 + VAT, which equals one thousand letters at 30p per letter. (Prices exclude VAT)

To obtain your FREE Medical Messenger information pack, including your Medical Messenger order form and a quotation CLICK HERE or call 0116 232 4640. (To obtain a quotation, you will need to add your patient list size to the email)

You will save hours of staff time and reduce postal costs by more than 40% with Medical Messenger’s Postal Service.  Contact us today for your order form.

Claim Your FREE Patient Partner Information Pack

Katy Fox, a mother with two young children, wakes up at 7am and finds that her youngest daughter is unwell.  Even though her surgery is closed, Katy immediately telephones them and selects the option to book an appointment.  She identifies her daughter by using her telephone keypad to key in their contact telephone number and her daughter’s date of birth.  She then goes on to book the first available appointment with any doctor and hangs up the telephone.

Patient Partner supplies your practice with virtual receptionists who will work for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week booking, cancelling, checking and changing appointments for your patients.  Through the use of Patient Partner, you increase patient access, whilst remaining in control of the system and the allocation of appointments.

“Patient Partner has helped to ease call pressure in the mornings and has made it easier for our patients to contact us.  This means that it releases receptionists’ time to work on other important tasks within the practice. Using the latest telephone technology also helps to support the image of the practice as patient-centred and forward thinking.” Anthea Doran, Practice Manager

A Patient Partner information pack is now available to you as a practice manager.  This pack will give you a brief overview of Patient Partner and illustrate the ways in which it is already helping other surgeries.  To obtain your FREE information pack CLICK HERE adding ‘info pack’ to the email subject line or call: 0116 232 4640.

Your existing telephone number remains the same and does not have to change in order for your practice to use Patient Partner.  Call us today for further details on 0116 232 4640.

How white is it outside your window? – Voice Connect provide a text messaging gateway service that will help you contact groups of people quickly during these periods of snowfall. It’s an effective way to inform people of possible closures and/or changes to times of meetings/events.

Martin Dennis is on hand to help you get signed up to the text messaging gateway service. 

Call: 0116 232 4640 or CLICK HERE.

For more information regarding the gateway also visit www.vcsms.co.uk.

Case Study Preview

‘Patient Partner is a marvellous system’ says Kingthorne Group Practice

Patient access is a problem for many GP surgeries and is also an issue that has been identified by the government. Senior staff at the Kingthorne Group Practice decided to install an automated appointment booking system in order to reduce the number of calls into the reception team and to offer their patients increased flexibility in making appointments. “We felt that using Patient Partner would enable us to give our patients a better service, as well as reducing pressure on our reception team,” explains Practice Manager, Alison Maw. “We were keen to offer them the opportunity to book their appointments at any time of day as we felt this would improve patient access. However, we did have some concerns prior to going ahead, mainly about how much our patients would use the system.”

To obtain your complete copy of the case study CLICK HERE adding ‘Kingthorne’ to the subject line of the email.

Case Study Preview

‘Patient Partner works very well with EMIS’ at Pembroke Road Surgery

Extended opening hours and a steadily growing population mean that phone lines at most surgeries across the UK are constantly busy and, prior to installing Patient Partner, Pembroke Road was no different. The practice decided to look into using an automated appointment booking system due to a progressive increase in telephone calls – which in turn contributed to a general increase in workload for reception staff.

To receive your copy of the Pembroke Road Surgery case study CLICK HERE and add ‘Pembroke’ to the email subject line.