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How a GP telephone call has saved us £37k pa in GP time


GP call back as a whole system Dr Chris Peterson is a partner at The Elms in Liverpool, and tells of how they turned round service, raised patient satisfaction and saved themselves so much time in the week that they are cutting half a salaried GP. A telephone call from the GP is at the heart of


it, but it only works within a whole system. “By the beginning of 2012, we could see


that despite increasing numbers of clinical ses- sions, we seemed never to be able to satisfy the demand. The vast majority of our patient complaints related to access issues. We ex- plored further investment in clinical capacity, but then looked at something different. A GP innovation where the GP calls all the patients. We introduced Patient Access in April 2012. Rather than simply ‘running faster’ we have


discovered a very real solution to the appoint- ment issues that confronted our practice. We now have a zero day waiting time to see a doctor, and with our latest refinements, we are speaking to our patients in a median of 15 min- utes. That’s all patients, all day, every day.


Better managed demand GP colleagues always ask me, won’t that just open the floodgates of demand? The amazing discovery is that no, the reverse happens. As we have speeded up our response, demand has drifted down. We know very well when the demand is going to come in, we match GP capacity to it and keep on top. More than half our calls are resolved then and there over the phone, and if we need to bring a patient in, around 90% choose to come in the same day. This has saved us so much time, that we


have now reduced GP sessions by half a person per week, saving £37k per year. With a high demand deprived population in Liverpool, this is game changing for us.”


www.patient-access.org.uk WWW.COMMISSIONINGSUCCESS.COM | 41


Linked with lower A&E Chris also works on the urgent care agenda for Liverpool CCG. “We need to tackle the ever rising demand for emergency care, and we are onto something. Research by Harry Longman who set up Patient Access with the GP innova- tors showed a link with the method and lower A&E usage. In the first six months of our new system, A&E minors, in hours, are already down 22%. This is the future of primary care.” Read more on The


Elms case study and how practices all over the UK are making the change.


Dr Chris Peterson


Rapid access has seen demand edge lower even through winter months.


New system launched 16 April 2012. Sustained and improved.


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