“All patients to have the right to video and online consultations by April 2020”. Have I got the right April? Why is it always April?
Let’s look at what GP at Hand have actually done in their 18 months of operation. At a cost of blanket advertising around the capital, they have recruited just 40,000 or one in 200 Londoners to their video-led service. I hardly think this merits the cries of barbarians at the gates.
But as we know people are led by feelings much more than facts, and all the headlines are designed to scare you.
They want you to feel threatened, that your livelihood is at stake.
They want it to “feel like” extra work – because anything ordered by the government must be extra work.
They want you to “feel like” you are being bullied into change, you’ll have to be different, and you don’t want it to be different, you didn’t sign up for this, and what do they know about your real work?
It’s a shame because very few GPs have considered the possibility that with the right design, digital first could enable you to be a better GP, providing a better service for patients with less work.
A practice we’ve worked with for eight months now is Witley and Milford, and some of their GPs were discussing the outcomes on Twitter this week. They are one of our fastest operators, with a median time to complete patient requests of 48 minutes (that’s all demand acute/routine whatever, and that’s completed, not just first response). They are also one of our highest for continuity, with 94% of patients who made a choice being helped by their chosen clinician.
All they have done is understood demand and flow and organised themselves around those principles. With over half their demand arriving online, they are a digital first practice, and it’s a joy to be a GP or a patient.
Many sage commentators tell us of the trade off that must inevitably be struck between Access and Continuity. I tell them Witley and Milford.
Taming the threat of digital first
Dear colleague,
“Private providers could grab unlimited share of GP consultations online” runs the heading in GP Online.
“Babylon GP at Hand given green light to expand NHS services into Birmingham” – to the usual outcry from BMA.
“All patients to have the right to video and online consultations by April 2020”. Have I got the right April? Why is it always April?
Let’s look at what GP at Hand have actually done in their 18 months of operation. At a cost of blanket advertising around the capital, they have recruited just 40,000 or one in 200 Londoners to their video-led service. I hardly think this merits the cries of barbarians at the gates.
But as we know people are led by feelings much more than facts, and all the headlines are designed to scare you.
They want you to feel threatened, that your livelihood is at stake.
They want it to “feel like” extra work – because anything ordered by the government must be extra work.
They want you to “feel like” you are being bullied into change, you’ll have to be different, and you don’t want it to be different, you didn’t sign up for this, and what do they know about your real work?
It’s a shame because very few GPs have considered the possibility that with the right design, digital first could enable you to be a better GP, providing a better service for patients with less work.
A practice we’ve worked with for eight months now is Witley and Milford, and some of their GPs were discussing the outcomes on Twitter this week. They are one of our fastest operators, with a median time to complete patient requests of 48 minutes (that’s all demand acute/routine whatever, and that’s completed, not just first response). They are also one of our highest for continuity, with 94% of patients who made a choice being helped by their chosen clinician.
All they have done is understood demand and flow and organised themselves around those principles. With over half their demand arriving online, they are a digital first practice, and it’s a joy to be a GP or a patient.
Many sage commentators tell us of the trade off that must inevitably be struck between Access and Continuity. I tell them Witley and Milford.
Best regards,
Regards
Harry Longman
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