Trinity Medical Centre saves money using Patient Partner

Trinity Medical Centre is a small, semi rural practice located in the Staffordshire village of Blythe Bridge, a few miles south east of Stoke on Trent and close to the major traffic routes of the A50 and M6. The centre employs two GPs, two practice nurses and eight additional staff who work in a range of clinical and administrative roles. There are 4,200 patients registered at the surgery, drawn from a predominantly white middle class demographic.

Like many GP practices across the UK, Trinity Medical Centre experienced a high volume of phone call traffic at certain times of the day, particularly when the surgery first opened in the morning. In an effort to reduce call congestion and improve overall access for patients, senior management at the centre decided to implement an automated appointments service, with Patient Partner first going live at the practice in September 2009.

Practice Manager Sue Bryan explains the reasons behind opting for the Patient Partner system. “We wanted to install an automated service because our telephones were always extremely busy first thing in the morning, every day of the week.  We thought that if our patients were able to book and cancel their own appointments whenever it suited them, it would remove some of pressure from the early morning staff. We also hoped it would make the telephones less busy, which would be less frustrating for patients.

“Having had a full demonstration from the sales team which clearly explained everything, we felt confident about going ahead,” comments Sue. Fortunately this confidence was not misplaced and the system has lived up to expectations. “Whilst we have had a few minor teething problems as we adapted the system for our particular requirements, it has enabled us to greatly improve our service. Not only that, but our staff now feel less pressured and are able to cope much better in the mornings.”

Most importantly, the reaction from patients has been very positive, with most expressing the opinion that Patient Partner is a good idea. “Patients find the system easy to use and have adapted well to it,” says Sue “They are now able to make their own appointments without going via reception, saving a lot of time and frustration.”

Patient Partner’s top three features:

1. It makes the telephones less busy.

2. Patients can pre book their appointments.

3. It handles out of hours calls and directs patients to the out of hours service.

Patient Partner has helped to improve several key areas of surgery life, including the main aim of reducing call congestion, particularly at the traditionally busy times. It has also achieved the objective of making life easier for the receptionists by reducing the number of calls that they need to answer, thereby releasing time to concentrate on other tasks. “Our patients also say that they find it easier to contact the surgery since the system has been installed,” comments Sue. “In fact, using Patient Partner has really enhanced our overall call handling capabilities.”

Sue has nothing but praise for the system and would be happy to recommend it to any other surgery looking to resolve their call handling issues. “I think the system is very good and can’t think of anything else which needs to be done to improve it. Whenever we have had any issues, they have been resolved quickly by the support team: they have offered us a good level of support and we have always been able to speak to someone when we have needed to.  Generally, Patient Partner has made the reception a much calmer place and receptionists have time to do other things.  Our patients are able to book appointments in advance and out of hours 24/7 so this frees up the telephones – and it has also saved us money by not having to install another telephone line. I would advise any surgery considering installing the system to go for it. Not only am I happy to recommend it to others- I have already done so!”

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