-Addressing Patient Demand Shakespeare Health Centre Signposting -Addressing Patient Demand

Purpose of analysis… Increasing demand for GP appointments Understand patients’ needs and analyse our own practice appointment system Reduce contacts made to primary care for social matters Signpost patients to the right department to enhance patient experience and to reduce demand in primary care “Data! Data! Data!” he cried impatiently. “I can’t make bricks without clay.” -Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

What does current evidence show?

So what did we do? 1) Identify and train one member of staff to do the data collection. 2) Educate her on the different types of services available and to offer these to patients if appropriate 3) Proactively encourage our reception staff to find the answers or contact H4ALL if unsure 4) Involve our reception staff- holistic treatment requires a holistic approach!

Example of Other: Finding out appointment time Solicitor phone calls Cancellation of appointments Blood test form request Hospital appointment time?? GP recruitment agency!!!!

Are some days different to others? 23/06/2017 30/06/2017

However, we found the following in our practice: What have we learnt? Figures from a company who deals with a similar service to address patient demand suggest that 5-9% of a practice list size will phone in any given week. About 28% of those phone calls will be answered on a Monday and Tuesday respectively.* *Data from over 100 practices However, we found the following in our practice: In our practice the percentage of our list size phoning in was 13.4% and not between 5-9% Out of the 13.4% phoning in to the practice: 16.9% phoned on Friday 28% phoned on Monday 24.2% phoned on Tuesday 15.9% phoned on Wednesday 14.6% phoned on Thursday

What conclusions can we draw from this? Demand is high in South Hillingdon, Hayes & Harlington Peak hours during the working week between 0830-1000 should be for GP appointments only and not to deal with script or “Other” queries Changes can be made to the telephone line so to divert phone calls to more “appropriate” working hours but we already do this!!! Less telephone call load to receptionists during core hours will allow them to have more time for patients who seek appointments with a GP or Nurse. This is where signposting could be helpful! Feedback from reception: “I really feel that I am helping patients now.” “Why didn’t we do this sooner!”

What’s next? Streamline processes for call handling during peak hours Set up our own pathway for redirecting patients- both from a clinical and non-clinical perspective Economy of scale- reduce workload from practices by having a central call centre- our very own mini 111 service that is bespoke and serve the needs of our locality, i.e. integrate into our existing services within our locality in order to give patients the best service possible with minimal inconvenience. Learn and share our findings with others!!!

Thank you for listening! And that is the reason why this victory is great, because different players have made contributions to the win. Thank you for listening! Any questions?