Wales Online reports that a leading doctor will today tell GPs across Wales to improve the way patients make appointments.

The British Medical Association Wales has suggested practices adopt a one-call system so patients are not forced to repeatedly call back in a bid to get an appointment. Dr David Bailey, chair of the Welsh GP committee (GPC), has written to every practice urging them to reform their appointment booking systems.

The move comes after the annual GP access survey found one in four patients could not make an advance appointment to see their doctor.

The Patient Partner system from Voice Connect would offer many of the advantages that Dr Bailey is seeking to offer patients.

For the full story see:  Welsh GP surged to  improve patient appointment making

Bermondsey and Lansdowne Medical Mission has been using Voice Connect’s automated Patient Partner system since March 2005. The system was originally introduced as a way of reducing the call congestion that was particularly common at peak times, and as a way of offering patients increased flexibility in booking appointments. Whilst the surgery currently has four telephone lines available for call queuing, it can still be difficult to handle a large influx of calls when the surgery opens at 8.30am, a time when people often call to make emergency or routine appointments.

The Bermondsey and Lansdowne Medical Mission is a relatively large GP surgery in Bermondsey, located between the Elephant and Castle and Tower Bridge just south of the Thames. As is usual in many urban areas, the practice’s patient demographic is multicultural with patients from a range of ethic backgrounds and social class. The local residents live in a mix of private and social housing.

The medical centre, which has over 13,000 patients registered on its list, is one of two surgeries which make up the central London practice. There are currently 4 partners plus 12 additional GPs working part time at the surgery, with another 22 staff employed in a range of clinical and administrative roles. The practice runs a range of clinics, including antenatal care and family planning, as well as offering services to advise on health issues such as hypertension, diabetes and nutrition.

“We felt that, by giving our patients more choice in when they could call to make appointments, we would be able to reduce call congestion at peak times,” comments Sonia McVinnie, Assistant Practice Manager at Bermondsey and Lansdowne. “We did have some concerns prior to installation about how we would collect telephone numbers so that our patients could have access to the system and also how we would advertise the system.  However, the support from the Voice Connect helpdesk has always been good – they are on hand whenever they are needed.”

Whilst the surgery currently has four telephone lines available for call queuing, it can still be difficult to handle a large influx of calls when the surgery opens at 8.30am, a time when people often call to make emergency or routine appointments. So a system like Patient Partner, which allows people to make appointments if they feel unwell in the night rather than when they get up, or late in the evening rather than before leaving for work in the morning, means that call traffic at these times is reduced.

Assistant Practice Manager Sonia reports that Patient Partner has made a significant contribution to the day to day running of the practice by improving the whole call handling process, through reducing call congestion and freeing up receptionists’ time so they are able to deal with other administrative task to facilitate the smooth running of the practice. “Because patients are able to book or cancel their appointments at any time, they now find it easier to make an appointment and access has improved, which was one of our main aims in introducing the system.”

A survey by Pulse magazine shows that 63% of GPs think that waiting times are likely to rise following the change in government targets surrounding patient waiting times.  Patient Partner is designed to help reduce waiting times for GPs whilst reducing costs – so could prove to be an ideal way of tackling the problem for doctors.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/08/07/wait-times-rise-again-115875-22470661/

The Partners and Practice Manager at Blackwater Medical Centre were looking for ways to reduce call congestion and make it easier for patients to arrange appointments. They felt that an automated telephone system, in the form of Patient Partner, could help with this common problem. After meeting with personnel from Voice Connect and seeing what Patient Partner could do, they decided to go ahead with the service, installing it in March 2009.

Blackwater Medical Centre is located in the town of Maldon in East Essex. The surrounding area is largely rural, including some significant wildlife conservation areas, and also attracts many sailing enthusiasts. The centre itself is one of two surgeries in the town and employs six full time GPs and one part time doctor in addition to a total of 22 staff in a range of clinical and administrative roles. There are over 14,000 residents from the town and surrounding villages on the patient register: the patient demographic is predominantly elderly.

Since this time, Practice Manager Lesley Beale reports that the service has lived up to expectations and is working well at the practice. “We anticipated that Patient Partner would benefit staff by easing pressure on the switchboard, and releasing more time to attend to other essential duties which enhance patient care,” she comments.  “The general reaction from patients has also been very positive. There were some initial issues with dates of birth for twins, triplets and elderly people born before 1909, but these have all been resolved very quickly by Patient Partner. The system has achieved our objective of improved access by making it easier for our patients to get in touch with us and make appointments, and our patients seem very satisfied with the service. It has also improved the speed with which we are able to handle calls as people are now able to bypass reception and make appointments automatically.”

Lesley believes that the service is an important step forward in offering patients improved choice and that, as word of the system continues to spread, that it will play an increased role in further improving call handling efficiency. “We feel that Patient Partner could do more to reduce congestion at peak times, but I think this is purely because the service has not been well advertised by the reception staff as yet – the patients need to know about the system and be encouraged to use it for it to have maximum impact.  Hopefully this is now resolving and the system is becoming better known amongst our patients.”

Lesley is impressed by Patient Partner’s functionality and when asked, can’t think of any way in which the service could be improved although she mentions that the automatic back up function, which backs up their clinical system daily for a short period of time in the middle of the night could be inconvenient for any patient wishing to call at that time.  This is because Patient Partner requires access to their clinical system and cannot obtain it during back up times.  “Obviously our clinical system has to be backed up so there is nothing that can be done about this, but it could be annoying should a patient choose to phone at this particular time.”

This minor, unavoidable technical issue aside, Lesley is very pleased with the system and feels that it does what was promised. “We have found Patient Partner to be an innovative service which gives our patients increased choice.  If used correctly, the system can save patients time and money, particularly at the high call volume times which can be problematic for any surgery.  It also offers our patients the opportunity of getting appointments quickly and easily. It is no longer necessary for patients to have to ring at 8am and so alleviates the congestion and rush in the mornings.”

In fact, Lesley is so impressed with the service, that she would have no hesitation in recommending it to others. “If a surgery like ours was considering switching to Patient Partner I would encourage them to do it as the system does improve patient choice.  In a nutshell, I think it’s great!”

News release 07.06.10

96% of surgeries questioned say automated appointments system improves patient choice

A new survey published this week reports that surgeries using automated phone appointment booking systems to enable patients to manage their own appointments feel that they have significantly increased patient choice. The survey, carried out by IMC Research on behalf of telecoms company Voice Connect, was sent out to over 3,000 GP practices across the UK. As part of the study, practice managers and partners were asked to identify the functions and services  they felt would enhance the appointment process and improve patient access.

The advantage of an automated system is that it enables patients to call their surgery number at any time of the night or day to book appointments. The system enables an individual practice to specify and control when slots are available for patients. They can also cancel and review their times, which helps to reduce a surgery’s DNA rate (did not attend). Of the surgeries using an automated system, 96% agreed that it had improved patient choice at their practice, whilst 85% reported that their patients regularly call out of hours to manage their appointments.

One surgery which uses the automated system known as Patient Partner, is the Kingthorne Group Practice in Doncaster. Practice Manager, Alison Maw explains how the service has helped them. “Since using the system, the number of calls coming in to reception has significantly reduced,” comments Alison. “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.”

Whilst there are several different online booking services in use in the UK, Patient Partner is the only fully automated phone system on the market and has been installed at over 600 surgeries nationwide. It was developed five years ago to tackle the problem of patient access by integrated communications specialist Voice Connect (www.voiceconnect.co.uk). The Leicester based company also supplies a range of telecoms products and services to surgeries, sexual health clinics, police forces and private companies across the UK.

“With the Health Bill announced in the Queen’s speech earlier this month (25th May) focusing on reducing inequality in healthcare and cutting bureaucracy, primary health care facilities will be looking for ways to reduce the administrative burden whilst improving services for patients – a tall order,” comments Stefan Olsberg, Managing Director of Voice Connect. “Despite advances in technology, many people still find it difficult to get through to their doctor and make or cancel an appointment, so improving access is fundamental to improving services.”

Missed appointments cost the NHS an estimated £600 million each year, with around 6.5 million appointments missed from 2007 to 2008.

Practice Business magazine has run a story on a recent Voice Connect customer survey about how GPs are using Patient Partner.  Have a look at this link:

The new Health Secretary has claimed that GPs will play a vital role within the NHS.  See this BBC news report.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10288063

‘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.