Take time to look at the day to day working in your general practice and examine how to make your operations digital.
Quick links to digital access channels
Every digital initiative will have an impact on operations across your general practice. You should consider different scenarios so that you can respond and adapt should the impact be adverse.
Consider different scenarios
Does the operational team know what will happen in response to any changes made?
Is demand and capacity fully understood?
Are plans in place to enable flexible and targeted resourcing?
Are staff equipped and trained to respond positively to new digital access channels that are available to patients?
Are systems correctly set up to enable an integrated and inclusive approach?
Understand the operational impact of change
Set up demand reporting before launching any initiative to closely monitor the outputs for change.
Try to model the impact of change – if in doubt take a cautious and controlled approach
Understand how long each task takes (e.g., 3 minutes for an inbound phone call) and convert this into a resourcing capacity plan.
Don’t forget to plan for shrinkage (breaks, sickness, annual leave).
Work out where the demand occurs in the day and the week – align staff whereabouts to this.
Know if demand is false (i.e., lots of repeat calls because patients are hanging up and retrying)
Ensure employment contracts give the flexibility needed – even if only for new starters onwards.
Plan outbound activity carefully – measure the lag time between message release and patient action
Think about the use of dedicated digital access channels, such as special telephone numbers, email accounts and online forms, to allow patients to respond to campaigns in a way that protects the day-to-day operation
Be prepared for change
Consider the opportunity for simple automation and canned phrases (pre-written, responses for the most common issues) to speed up response times
Equip the team to be able to handle difficult patients, to navigate/signpost and to have deliver difficult messages to minimise the use of path of least resistance
Consider a navigation tool and associated training; can navigation reduce unnecessary triaging and appointments?
Embrace the change to digital
Try to create a culture of managing demand, rather than hating the problem, by empowering staff to navigate and positively position alternative patient pathways
Take time to create clear rules, but also the exceptions to the rules so that staff have the confidence to act in the right way
Consider operative useability – the need to scroll around screens, to expand or reduce boxes/windows or to make digital access solutions work on a single PC screen can lead to user frustration and mount-up to considerable inefficiencies each day.
Recognise success – consider a formal Quality Monitoring Framework for this. QMFs provide a framework for logging/tracking progress and the structuring of staff feedback. Used well, QMFs support the creation of a coaching culture, improve morale amongst staff and represent an investment in continuous improvement reflected in enhanced patient experiences.
Further information
- Digital accessibility standards
- Digital skills – competency standards frameworks, and tools for healthcare professionals
- Digital skills for patients
- Digitally enabled triage
- Ensuring new technology improves primary care access for all
- GP digital services – Procurement of GP IT hardware, software and IT services
- Good practice guidelines for GP electronic patient records
- Health informatics academic courses and professional qualifications
- IT, digital and application training in primary care
- Online access to new GP health record information
- Online appointment booking
- Online consultation tools
- Online repeat prescriptions
- Remote consulting
- Remote consulting tools – procurement, regulations, governance and transformation
- Supporting digital inclusion in general practice: 10 top tips
- Video consultation tools
