Patient Partner is a system that allows your patients to book, cancel, check or change appointments at any time, night or day using their telephone. The system is a PC/Server based solution, which connects to your practice's telephone system. Patient Partner also integrates with your electronic appointment book, ensuring that it can operate in 'real time'.

Most GP practices suffer from congested telephone lines at the start of each day or during peak times. This congestion is caused by the numbers of patients that need to arrange appointments with GPs, because their priority is to contact you as soon as they can, i.e. when the practice opens or when appointments are released. Patient Partner relieves congested telephone lines, because it gives you the opportunity to re-educate your patients by allowing them to telephone the practice around the clock to book their appointments.

"Now the patients are used to Patient Partner, they are booking appointments at the weekend, the night before or even just before the surgery opens. This has meant that it is now considerably easier for people trying to get through on the phones (for non-appointment related queries) to speak to a receptionist. We did originally think uptake would be slow - this has not been the case - within 3 months 75% of available on the day and book ahead appointments were being booked through Patient Partner."

Laurie Brown, Practice Manager