NHS England has shared an update around GP telephony, stating that 92 percent of GP practices in England now have cloud-based systems in place with remaining practices agreeing dates for upgrades within the next month.
During trials, NHSE reports that use of digital phone systems “increased patients’ ability to get through to their GP practice by almost a third.”
A case study from Abbey Medical Centre in Warwickshire highlights how staff were able to use data provided from their digital telephony system to identify when telephone lines were at their busiest, to ensure that more reception staff were available at peak times. The number of abandoned calls has been shown to fall from 247 to 17 a day over a six-month period, a reduction of more than 90 percent.
Additionally, with the practice promoting the use of forms for appointment requests and other forms of care on their website, the number of patients using them has increased from an average of 10 a day to 70, further reducing telephone demand.
Dr Amanda Doyle, national director of primary care and community services for NHS England, said that increased access through digital telephony “is welcome news for patients and just one of a range of measures to make it quicker for people to get the help they need from their local GP team.”
At our digital primary care event, we were joined by Dave Mills, head of Think Healthcare, for a webinar focusing on the ongoing journey of NHS cloud telephony from transition to transformation. Dave explored the journey for sites who have recently started the migration to advanced cloud telephony along with others who may be looking at upgrading their existing set-ups, and shared practical tips and suggestions for getting the most from this tech.
In another of our recent webinars, we were joined by David Ezra, managing director of NEC Rego, to discuss the ways in which the platform can help NHS organisations in optimising their referral management process.
