On The Line: Patient Access in UK Primary Care

Telephone triage is increasingly being used as a means to access healthcare, our survey of 1,195 GPs, nurses and practice managers found. With questions targeted at understanding the attitudes of healthcare providers at the individual level as well as activity at the practice level, this survey provides an insight into the subjective experiences of healthcare providers as well as trends in access across general practice.

Over 56% of practices used some form of telephone triage, and this seemed to be considered a convenient and efficient way of providing healthcare with 95% of respondents rating it as either ‘moderately’ or ‘extremely’ successful. However, the quality of telephone triage provided could be called into question, with close to half of providers (48%) having received no training in telephone triage. Furthermore, 13% of respondents said receptionists without a medical background were involved and that a large handful of that group did so without any training in telephone triage or help from a nurse or doctor.

The report includes a foreword from Dr. James Kingsland, president of the National Association of Primary Care, commentary from practices managers as well members of representative bodies such as the British Medical Association to further shed insight on the statistical findings.

Download the report here:  On The Line: Patient Access in UK Primary Care