Up to 20% of calls to GP practices ‘could be resolved’ through NHS App features for referrals, NHS England has claimed.
From Tuesday (30 January) the NHS App will show the average waiting time to patients referred into a speciality at NHS acute trusts.
The commissioner said that this will help patients ‘understand how long they are likely to wait’ and ‘manage the number of calls and visits’ into GP practices.
‘With NHS England estimating that up to 20% of calls to GP practices could be resolved through the features for hospital appointments on the NHS App, we expect this new waiting times feature to free up more resources for patient care,’ it said in a briefing to practices.
The rollout of this functionality follows a trial period at Kingston Hospital, where staff worked with NHS England to monitor progress across the trust’s telephony system, PALS service and local GPs.
NHS England said that ‘no increase’ in calls to GP practices was reported during the trial but it has not answered Pulse’s query on whether the calls decreased during the trail.
Patients can already see some information on their estimated waiting time via the app, regarding their first appointment and the average waiting time to start treatment.
However, after this, a patient is no longer able to view this information as they continue their care journey.
The new waiting times feature will continue to present the patient information stating they are on a waiting list at their provider and the estimated waiting time for treatment.
The app will be using existing published data on specialties provided by trusts and in the public domain.
The briefing added: ‘We expect this new feature to improve patient experience by better informing patients about their secondary care pathway.
‘They will now know they are “in the system” and on a waiting list, and the estimated month for treatment.
‘It could also help alleviate queries that would normally be directed to trusts and GP practices, potentially reducing call volumes from patients seeking an update.’
What data will be used by the NHS App?
- The NHS App is using waiting list information from the Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS) and waiting times from My Planned Care (MPC). The WLMDS is the combined list of patients on waiting lists reported. MPC is based on data provided by each trust. The waiting time shown is the average (mean) of all patients waiting for treatment within the specialty at each trust.
- Data is updated weekly based on trust updates to WLMDS and MPC data, meaning the patient’s expected treatment date, based on average waiting time, may move based on updates to trust data.
Source: NHS England
Since October, patients already waiting more than 40 weeks for an appointment, and patients that have a decision to treat but have not yet been given a treatment date, have been asked whether they want to switch hospitals, if possible and clinically appropriate.
The CQC’s recent report on the state of health and social care found that long hospital waiting lists create ‘avoidable’ GP workload as they have to manage people for longer.
Another new NHS App functionality will go live on 30 January to allow patients to generate a prescription barcode to collect their medicines from any pharmacy.
NHS England is also launching a campaign to raise awareness of new functionalities of the NHS App and what it can be used for, which will target all adults over 50 and women aged 18 to 50.
READERS' COMMENTS [9]
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rubbish we don’t take those calls patients are all aware to contact the hospital
Don’t be silly – no it can’t
But, if it allowed direct access to the full range of local self-referral options: Pharmacy First, physio, podiatry, audiology, CBT etc.; and if it enabled patients to directly message their Secondary care specialist for follow up questions and queries; and if it linked to live local pharmacy drug availability information; and if linked to information about all the local third party organisations and parallel services from public health/the local authority… then it might do… 10%?
It really can’t.
These sorts of claims are completely mad – what do NHSE think we actually do?
I suspect that calls to the surgery asking ‘when will I be seen’ will just be replaced by calls asking ‘why am I having to wait 15 months, and can you please write to them?’
When will NHSE’s attitude to technology mature, and when will they stop thinking that digital solutions can solve all the problems in the world when what they can do, at best, is usually pretty marginal gains, like here.
Misinformation and distracting rubbish from the apparatchiks of NHSE who want to replace GPs with a menu of options.
Pulse really should consider no-platforming some of NHSE’s witless press releases
Watch out everyone you don’t slip on this BS.
I
It won’t decrease work load it will increase it , just like 111. Thanks to that genius invention, we now have a populous completely unable to make health decisions for themselves and instead rely on a system full of bugs that erroneously sends huge numbers of them to GPS or A&E where their inflated expectations go unmet.
Knowing you are stuck in a long
queue ,moving at snails pace, in a failing system is not going to decrease Gp workload , it is going to prompt patients to ring 111 to ask what to do about it and they will then be redirected to their overbooked Gp or overcrowded A&E , for a further dose of frustration an disappointment .
“Dr, why is my first appointment scheduled for 3am on a Sunday morning in clinic ‘triage do not come to hospital’ in 3 months time?
Look up. There’s a fleet of flying pigs in the sky.