The walk down from Manchester Piccadilly is a fascinating cityscape, and then crossing the river Irwell into Salford it seems everything is in flux.
Here, between the £180/night Lowry Hotel and the £35/night Salford Arms Hotel, lies Blackfriars Medical Practice. Perhaps that’s a metaphor for the patients Dr Babar Farooq and his team serve: young, mobile, diverse and with fortunes right across the spectrum.
It’s free to join his list and free to get help – the NHS is a great leveller.
What’s unique is that when Blackfriars launched askmyGP three weeks ago they moved 97% of their patient demand online, from day one.
There’s no messing about – Linda on reception simply tells the patients what they need to do. They send online, they get sorted within a few hours (median time to complete the episode is 193 minutes). Computer never says no.
Inside the practice with the phone not constantly ringing the drop in stress and pressure is palpable. They are bouncing. Babar keeps telling me how happy he is, and he’s resolving 38% of requests simply by message.
Patients? 86% say the new system is better. “I was surprised at how quick my question was responded to. Much faster than calling.” is a typical response, female 29.
Their demographic is young, mostly 20s and 30s, so we wouldn’t expect every practice to get this many online, 80% would be more reasonable for the average normal digital first GP.
Blackfriars in week 3? They’ve just ticked up to 99%.
Harry Longman
Pictured, between the yellow sign and the railway bridge, ground floor.
