Digital triage sees PCN call volumes drop by 60%

A single-practice PCN has seen its call volumes drop by around 60% after implementing a digital patient triage system.

Call volumes at Sutton Coldfield Group Practice went from an average of 200 by 8am on Monday, to an average of 80, with 82% of appointments now booked through the triage tool.

The tool, called Smart Triage by Rapid Health, performs automated triage for patients through an online consultation system. It has passed its digital technology assessment criteria (DTAC) and is an NHS Digital assured supplier.

Dr Murali Muniyappa, GP partner and lead for IT and digital services at Sutton Coldfield Group Practice said the PCN had been doing telephone triaging prior to adopting Smart Triage but had ‘a relatively low threshold for bringing people in for face-to-face appointments’.

‘As GPs we worried about the patient we did not see, and it’s upsetting when you hear patients say to you that the GP has got no appointments, and you don’t want to see us.’

The PCN, which has 56,000 patients across six practice sites, started looking for a smart triaging tool to help with this access issue. The tool now sits within the PCN’s urgent care team and triages patients who use the online consultation tool, apart from those symptoms and patients which are set to not be automated, such as pregnant women who will come straight to the urgent care team.

‘Now you can meet and see more patients in a more timely fashion, in a safe way, without burning yourself out and having to see 6,7 or 8 extra patients in your clinic from urgent requests coming in,’ said Dr Muniyappa.

‘Workload is always going to be the same but it does feel manageable.’

Chief operating officer, Deb Sutton, added: ‘Rapid Health has undoubtedly improved our services to patients. Our telephone response times are much improved and the 8 o’clock reception queue has diminished. While we still have progress to make, Rapid Health is helping us transform our services to patients.’

Carmelo Insalaco, CEO and co-founder of Rapid Health said: ‘When you create a system that benefits both patients and practice staff, change can happen very quickly, as we’ve seen with Sutton Coldfield.

‘Using a system that gives patients the autonomy to book clinically appropriate appointments not only improves patient satisfaction, but also helps to positively influence patient demand and behaviours, eventually eliminating the 8am rush.”

Last month, NHS England guidance called on PCNs to monitor and analyse the data from cloud telephony across the PCN’s service.

It said: ‘PCNs can share resources and information and can create local networks of knowledge and peer support. This shared active learning is often a positive step towards developing a sustainable approach to improvement and change.’

It recommended that PCNs make sure the data from practices is measured in the same way and combined to give a PCN-wide picture, which can be used to monitor trends to support decision-making.

It comes as PCN leaders are to drive demand and capacity test sites as part of several ICB pilots that hope to understand the gap between demand and capacity in primary care.