NHS England has published the latest statistics on appointments in general practice covering the month of September 2024, with a breakdown of appointment mode showing an increase of almost 900,000 in the number of appointments delivered online or through video conferencing.
The total number of appointments for September 2024 is recorded at just over 29.8 million; compared with just over 31.1 million recorded for September 2023, due to the Flu and Covid vaccination programme starting in October this year. Of those, the number of appointments delivered online or through video conferencing is recorded at 1,558,196. This represents an increase on September 2023, where 665,911 appointments were conducted in this way; and an increase compared with the year prior, with 177,848 video/online appointments recorded for September 2022.
1,154,787 of video/online appointments in September were also delivered on the same day, up from 477,235 for September of last year.
To view the statistics in full, please click here.
Tech in primary care
In September, the British Medical Association and GPC England, the representative body for GPS in the country, shared an update on NHS England plans to extract data from GP clinical systems on cloud-based telephony usage, confirming that all general practices are “mandated to comply with this invitation and approve the collection” by 1 October.
NHSE also published a strategy detailing the primary care implementation of the NHS patient safety strategy, noting the role of digital and data in areas such as automatically flagging patient safety issues to support reliability, and supporting clinical decision-making by digitally embedding diagnosis advice and safety netting.
October saw the DHSC sharing plans to create a “more modern” NHS in which patients have increased ownership over their own medical history, announcing an intention for a single patient record which will bring patient health information, test results and letters together in one place through the NHS App.
The NHSE October board meeting highlighted key statistics for areas of focus within the NHS; plans for data improvements in specific areas; and comments around how the NHS can support the government’s planned shift towards preventative, digital and community-based care.
And let’s not forget the launch of HTN’s Primary Care Awards 2024, celebrating GP practices, primary care networks, integrated care boards and suppliers who have delivered improvement in the primary care space! This awards programme provides a platform through which we aim to share innovations, case studies, collaborations and solutions which have made a difference, and shine a spotlight on the breadth of innovative thinking and hard work happening across primary care.
Innovation in primary care
In a recent LinkedIn poll, we asked our readers what they thought should be the biggest priority for digital primary care, with options including funding to support innovation, interoperability, patient-facing digital tools, and back office efficiencies. Attracting a total of 89 votes, the most popular choice was interoperability, with 42 percent of the vote.
A HTN Now panel discussion on the topic of innovation in primary care also covered topics including what “good” looks like for innovation in the primary care space, digital and patient access, barriers to innovation, and what primary care needs to innovate.
A HTN feature from Hanley Consulting’s Paul Harvey shared practical examples on the impact of using data to transform primary care, covering operational efficiency, using data for trend analysis, and making informed decisions that support patient outcomes, optimising resource utilisation, and continuous advancements in practice.
