Telephony system reduces missed GP appointments in Birmingham
- 20 August 2024
- A ‘check and cancel’ system within the cloud-telephony framework at Hall Green Health has helped save patient and staff time
- The Surgery Connect solution provides patients with a 24 hour service to verify or cancel their appointments
- In July 2024, 292 appointments were checked and 92 were cancelled using the system
The implementation of a ‘check and cancel’ appointment feature within the Surgery Connect cloud-telephony framework at Hall Green Health (HGH) GP practice has improved patient accessibility and helped reduce administrative burdens.
HGH, a practice within the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group, integrated the system into its existing cloud-telephony system in March 2023 to provide patients with a service to verify or cancel their appointments 24 hours a day, without needing assistance from the practice staff.
The practice had been facing challenges with managing appointments through the traditional method of taking phone calls during office hours, which led to a high number of missed appointments.
Figures from July 2024 show that 292 appointments were checked and 92 appointments were cancelled using the Surgery Connect system, saving approximately 10 hours and 53 minutes of patient and staff time, based on average call durations.
Jamal Syed, operations manager at HGH, said: “The system’s ability to provide 24/7 access was particularly beneficial for patients unable to use online services during regular hours.
“The significant number of appointments checked and cancelled indicates that patients utilised the system effectively to manage their appointments, potentially reducing the number of missed appointments.
“By allowing patients to access this at all times, it is one less administrative task to pick up during the morning rush”.
According to NHS England, the financial impact of patient no-shows is substantial, with the average nine-minute GP consultation costing £42
Of 26 users who reviewed the system in July, 76.2% expressed their willingness to use it again, and 47.8% reported that the system saved them time, according to data from a case study by HGH.
A full history of HGH’s journey towards becoming a digitally advanced healthcare provider can be found in the study ‘Digital transformation at Hall Green Health – A model for modern general practice‘, published in Future Healthcare Journal in November 2023.
Meanwhile, the Sutton Coldfield Group Practice in the West Midlands announced in July 2024 that it has reduced the ‘8am rush’ for appointments by using an online patient triage solution from Rapid Health, which uses an online assessment to direct patients to the appropriate care without needing staff input.
NHSE confirmed in June 2024 that its £300 million digital pathways framework, aimed at driving a rapid move to a modern general practice model, had been cancelled.
The framework was intended to connect ICBs with approved suppliers for digital GP tools for messaging, consultations and care navigation.
Modern general practice is an approach set out in the ‘Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care‘, published in May 2023, which aims to use better digital telephony, digital online contact tools and improved workflows to improve patient access to GPs.
NHSE announced funding of £48m for ICBs, to fund capabilities relating to digital pathways and demand and capacity tools for GPs in April 2024 under the ‘Digital pathways tools guidance and next steps for 2024/ 2025′.
In July 2024 Digital Health News reported that the British Medical Association’s GP committee warned that NHS England could use cloud-based telephony data to performance manage GP practices.
This story was changed from a previous version at 16.30 on 20 August 2024 to amend Jamal Syed’s job role.
