How to develop your digital channels

Digital transformation

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

Websites

Cloud-based telephony

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.

Digital access channels

Is your website focussed on the information that patients need?

Is your website clear and easy to use?

Does your website encourage patients to use self-help alternatives to a GP appointment for non-urgent issues?

Does your website signpost patients to the NHS App?

Does your website meet NHS accessibility standards?

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Is telephone demand measured, reported, and reviewed?

Do you use a rota to manage the telephone during busy periods?

Do you use navigation, triage or sifting to optimise use of the telephone?

Do staff promote alternative points of access, such as the NHS App or the practice website?

Are call queue and on hold messages used to promote alternative points of access?

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Is there a simple, easy to use online appointment and consultation solution?

Is online consultation an integral part of the patient offer?

Is online consultation actively promoted?

Does the reception team have the skills it needs to support online consultation?

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It is easy to think of Apps in themselves as a separate entity although this isn’t very helpful. In most cases, apps are an extension of a website offer and simply another, more convenient way of accessing a service or communicating with an organisation. In the context of an enhanced patient access to GP digital services, it is the convenience that matters.

Is the NHS App an integral part of your practice offer to patients?

Is the NHS App actively promoted?

Are the Apps of third-party suppliers fully understood?

Does the reception team have the skills it needs to support online consultation?

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Is messaging being used to prevent unnecessary telephone calls?

Are messaging costs fully understood?

Is there an understanding of the impact of messaging campaigns on practice operations? For example do the seasonal flu vaccination campaigns result in a spike in phone calls?

Is the impact of messaging measured against tangible outcomes, such as a reduction of DNAs?

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Patient facing email is not recommended to prevent the risk of email being used during a medical emergency. Web forms are a good way to manage non-urgent demand for workflows such as registrations, change of details, insurance requests and feedback.

Is email used appropriately to prevent medically related communication?

Is the impact of inappropriate use of email understood?

Are webforms used for transactional information, such as registration or change of address?

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There is still a role for letters to play in accessing those people without access to mobile phones or the Internet. It is important to remember though that postal services represent one of the biggest costs per communication transactions in real terms, when considering postage, material, time, and processing. The use of postage should be carefully considered, monitoring volumes and effectiveness. In the same way that a call reduction plan could be helpful, a postal reduction programme can be useful too.

Has the cost of using letters been calculated?

Are digital alternatives being used to reduce letter use?

Are letter volumes (in and outbound) reducing?

Is there a letters reduction strategy in place?

Download the Letters checklist

Considering walk-in as part of the digital approach is important as this is of course the time when practices have the potential to make a significant impression. Whether walking in to make an appointment or to attend one, patients are open to messaging from the moment they walk through the door.

Does your organisation welcome walk-in’s?

Are you using your waiting room/s effectively to communicate with patients?

Do you promote the use of the NHS App in your waiting room/s?

Download the Walk-in checklist

Consider different scenarios

Understand the operational impact of change

Be prepared for change

Embrace the change to digital

Digital access channels

Further information