8 – 12 May 2023 Practice Update

Continual improvement

This week, once again, proved to be more successful than we first anticipated. It being the second of two four-day weeks we were unsure of how it would pan out. The Clinical Triage initiative is seeing real benefits as we surpassed 2021’s achievements by Wednesday afternoon. We were not able to match 2022’s patient consults but the like-for-like conditions were very different. In the same week last year we had 100% overall clinical capacity with an additional 2 GPs working – 12% more GP sessions over and above that which we would normally have working – and it was a five-day week. We are averaging 1,767 patient consults per week; that’s over 200 more than in 2022, and over 760, per week, more than in 2021.

The automation of O365 gives a much clearer situational awareness picture – and it’s in real time. That allows better informed decisions in a much quicker time frame. End result – we’re seeing more patients.

The team continues to pull together exceptionally well; and we consulted with a lot of patients. The daily waiting list continues to prove successful; this week saw us being able to offer 99% of the patients being put on the daily waiting list to have a consultation.

• 355 patients called the Clinical Triage line
• 94 were asked if they wanted to be put on the daily waiting list.
• 93 patients from the waiting were called
• 28 patients were triaged through the Urgent on the Day facility

The Clinical Triage initiative is also providing evidence that the Urgent-on-the-Day lists are reducing.

We are still considering offering a percentage of our availability as online requests for Clinical Triage. This will be for patients who are registered for Vision Online Services. The availability will be from 07:45 and is to allow patients to request a booking prior to the 08:00 opening time.

Ordering prescriptions online

The online Prescription Request initiative remains to be popular and that is resulting in a lot of telephone calls that don’t have to happen – and that frees up the appointments line, and takes some of the patients away from the prescriptions line.

Of course the most efficient way of getting your prescriptions ordered is through Vision Patient Services because that feeds directly into our clinical system and allows the patient to see exactly what is on their current and repeat prescription lists. It’s really easy to use and applying for registration is just as easy. Check out the following links:

• Look at the videos showing exactly what the service is all about
• Apply to the Practice for registration details
• Then get your letter with the 3 important pieces of information for you to register
• Then register
• Once you have registered and have a username and password you can then login

If you are using our online form then we’ll probably contact you in order to get you moved across to the service.

Our statistics

Here are some of the main points for the week:

• This week saw us consult with 1,593 patients,12.80% of the Practice population, and that included 745, 47% of this week’s consultations as Face to Face contacts.
• Looking back over the past two years, in this week of each calendar year, and comparing like for like our patient contacts were:
  • 1,081 in 2021 (32% fewer than 2023)
  • 1,741 in 2022 (9% more than 2023)
  • And this week our forecast already shows that we have processed 40.04% of 2022’s achievements.
• We processed 42 MED3 Fitnotes through our web forms.
• We processed 38 Prescription requests through our web forms.
• Remember to contact us using the web form if you need to cancel your appointment because we can offer the appointment to other patients on the waiting list. Click here to find out how to cancel your appointment.
• We got 18 more patients on Vision Online Patient Services and so they will be able to order their prescriptions online – and this feeds directly into our clinical system. Check out our website for more information on Vision Online Services.
• We received 16 Subject Access Requests; ranging from patients wanting the results of their tests to full copies of medical records.
  • Find out more about Subject Access Requests on our website.
  • Find out about how to access your test results on our website.
• It was great to see many of our patients completing the Epilepsy Review form, which in turn allows us to keep an accurate record of the patient’s health.
• We’re still working on an online Home Blood Pressure Monitoring form to allow patients to submit daily or weekly average readings. More to follow.
• Once again we’d like to thank all patients for their patience and understanding last week.

Going into next week, our clinical capacity is at 99% with our GP capacity being 72%.

Let’s have a cheeky wee look at the same week in 2022 – just for comparison. Remember last year it was a five-day week, and we had an overall full complement of clinicians and two more GPs (and we were taking incoming fire from social media snipers). We did well last year; and we’re doing much better this year. We think we did really well this week – and our new system surpasses anything that we were doing in the past. We do have a particularly great team now though.

Clinical Capacity

The chart below show our overall clinical capacity, ie our doctors, Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Practice Nurses, and Healthcare Assistants in relation to our GP availability. The fluctuation in general clinicians’ availability is illustrative of the percentage of our total capacity in relation to absences (planned as well as sickness); and the availability of GPs.

We are showing that we never have 100% of the GPs that we would like to have; and so when one goes off at short notice, for any reason, the week becomes challenging. We have planned for Locum coverage, but that is not always available. In order to balance the requirement we have invested heavily in upskilling of our Advance Care Practitioners and senior Practice Nurses, many of whom are independent prescribers, as well being particularly adept in many fields, and take a significant amount of routine work from the GPs; which has the additional benefits of freeing up the GPs’ time to look at the more complex cases.

This chart shows our clinical capacity from Apr – Aug 2023