Thread by @namacey

#GeneralPractice is really busy.
My amazing team is working harder than ever.
The vast majority of the work that we do is not being counted by the GP Appointments Data (GPAD) Dashboard. This thread explains more about what we do & why we do it 1/X

We use @askmygp & aim to deal with all of the patient demand that presents to us each day - you might not always get what you ‘want’ but we’ll always try to deliver what you ‘need’ - we’ll operate this way as long as we can keep the surgery staffed - it’s getting harder 2/X

Demand is finite & fairly predictable - we try to staff accordingly. This Monday was off the chart (& off of this photo!) caused by the Group A Strep situation 3/X

Mondays are busy - reliably 50% busier than every other day of the week - we try to staff accordingly 4/X

Over the last 12 months, the median time for us to deal with and finish a patient request was 112 minutes. Despite what the Daily Mail & Telegraph say, I think that is pretty remarkable 5/X

This shows that demand has been high but pretty stable over the last 12 months - the mid-year dip was the Jubilee bank holidays. Reliably 80% of our work is submitted directly to us online via @askmygp - this leaves our phone lines freer for those unable to use digital option 6/X

Older people are more likely to use the telephone to contact us - whatever suits them best - but plenty of our older patients do happily use @askmygp for themselves - as shown we have several independent users in their 90s - never assume! 7/X

Do all patients want to be seen face-to-face? At the point of send in their request, every patient is asked how they would like us to manage them - face-to-face/phone/message/video. Hardly anyone asks for video. When given the choice, 6-7% of our patients request face-to-face 8/X

However, many more are seen face-to-face (20%-ish) following expert triage by our clinicians. Around 35% are phoned & 40-45% e-mailled. Good access reassures patients so they know that they can get back to us if needed - I think that means that they don’t directly request F2F 9/X

B’n 1/11 - 7/12/22, we had 9886 @askmygp requests - annualised this equates to 120,000. GPAD only counts those transferred to our clinical system - if each took 5 seconds to do (I wish!), this duplication takes 165 hours of staff time/year - better spent serving our patients 10/X

I think that our patients are generally happy with what we offer. After each contact is closed, patients are asked to rate whether it has been ‘Better’, ‘Worse’ or the ‘Same’ as their last appt - 80% consistently rate us ‘Better’ - we’re not perfect but we work hard to try 11/X

Patients can leave feedback comments too - they can be an amazing boost to morale for the whole team & individuals - we read & value each one - we try to learn from things that have not gone well 12/X

1. I’m incredibly proud of what we do.
2. My team is amazing.
3. Not sure how much harder they can work - this week (GAS etc) has pushed things to the edge.
4. All GP practices are only a few resignations away from falling over.
5. Value us - you might miss us when we’re gone! /X