Patchs Information
Feedback Board
"We Asked"
What can we do to imporve access to our surgery for you?
In what areas do you think can we improve our communications lines?
How can we improve the quality and efficiency of our services to aid your patient experience?
"You Said"
Look at your telephone system, permanently engaged or can't get through.
Provide more choice on how we contact the surgery
Can I have an appointment reminder?
"We Did"
We have changed our telephone system. We now have a call queueing system and call back options.
We have implemented a new online consultation, the new faster and easier way to get help from us.
Appointment reminders, Done!
Feedback Board
"You Asked"
PATCHS is the new easy way for you to contact your GP practice online. PATCHS has been designed by GPs to make it easier to contact your practice and save you time.
Just answer a few simple questions and PATCHS gets you the help you need quickly.
You can use PATCHS to contact your GP practice for health advice, condition monitoring, repeat prescriptions, fit notes, appointment bookings, and more...
PATCHS provides lots of benefits including being able to make requests in your own time, avoid telephone queues and waiting rooms, and getting quick responses. PATCHS also helps patients who struggle to contact their GP practice using the telephone or in-person. This includes patients who have hearing or speaking impairments, anxiety, and who speak English as a second language.
To use PATCHS, visit our website www.lingwellcroft.co.uk and follow the PATCHS link.
"We Did"
Because ‘We Asked’ and PATCHS provides lots of benefits to you and the GP practice.
These include:
- Quick and easy access to your GP
- Health advice, fit notes, medication, and more...
- Make requests in your own time.
- Avoid telephone queues and waiting rooms.
PATCHS helps patients who struggle to contact their GP practice using the telephone or in-person. This includes patients who have hearing or speaking impairments, anxiety, and who speak English as a second language.
Just select the type of problem you want to contact your practice about. Then answer a few easy questions about your problem in your own words in the PATCHS chatbot.
As your GP practice we will read your request and get you the help you need ASAP. This may include sending you a message, calling you on the telephone, or booking you an appointment.
We recommend registering for a PATCHS account, so you do not need to enter your details each time you use PATCHS. An account also gives you access to all our services such as repeat medication requests, condition monitoring and appointment bookings.
How will the 'Total Digital Triage' system work at Lingwell Croft Surgery?
You will be able to complete a PATCHS consultation between the hours of 7am and 5pm Monday - Friday, and we will try our very best to respond to ALL PATCHS consultations the same day.
If you feel you need to see or speak to a doctor urgently after 5pm please call the surgery, as you won’t be able to complete a PATCHS consultation after 5pm. Only the most urgent cases will be dealt with after 5pm, and you may be asked to complete a PATCHS consultation from 7am the next working day.
The PATCHS consultations will be sent to our Triage HUB which consists of Care Navigators, Advanced Nurse Practitioners and GPs. This team will decide whether your PATCHS consultation will be dealt with by a Practice Nurse, a GP/Advanced Nurse Practitioner, or our Primary Care Network (PCN) multidisciplinary team, which includes PCN pharmacists, Community Pharmacists, physiotherapists, and mental health practitioners. The team will also decide whether your PATCHS consultation needs to be dealt with urgently the same day, within one week or can wait for a routine two-week appointment.
This triage system will make sure patients with the greatest need are seen first and ensure the practice manages its workload safely and efficiently.
The PATCHS Telephone Assistant
If you find using online services difficult, you can now leave a voicemail for your GP practice using PATCHS Telephone Assistant. The PATCHS Telephone Assistant is a revolutionary way for you (our patients) to access our GP practice. Simply speak to the Telephone Assistant who takes the details of their request. The message is automatically transcribed and is sent to our Total Digital Triage hub just like a standard PATCHS online consultation.
Key benefits
Equity: Works for patients excluded from using online services.
Convenience: Patients don’t have to call at 8:30am or wait in queues.
Triage: Entries are flagged to our Total Digital Triage hub based on urgency
How to use Telephone Assistant
To access Telephone Assistant just call our normal telephone number and choose option 1
Telephone Assistant will take you through the following steps:
- Medical emergency: Telephone Assistant is not suitable to be used for medical emergencies.
- Age: You must be over the age of 16 years.
- Consent: You must consent for your call to be recorded to provide the service.
- Identity check: Your identity will be checked by asking your name, date of birth, and post code. If you are calling on behalf of someone you care for (for example your child) it will ask you for your relationship to them.
- Type of message: You select the type of message you want to discuss with your GP practice. You can choose from 'New Health Problem', 'Ongoing Health Problem', 'Admin Request', 'Medication Request', or 'Other'.
- Questions: You will be asked a few questions about your issue.
- Contact details: Confirm the telephone number you would prefer the GP practice to contact you on.
- Confirmation: You will receive confirmation that your voicemail has been sent to your GP practice. The practice will respond as soon as possible within their opening hours.
Tips when using Telephone Assistant
- Speak slowly and clearly: So the system can easily understand you.
- Don't hang up early: Do not end the telephone call until you have been told that your message has been successfully passed to your GP practice. If your call ends before you hear this information, the practice will not receive your message and you will need to start the process again.
Who are Care Navigators?
Care navigators are members of our GP support staff who have been trained to help you get the right help from the right place. They work closely with our GPs and Advanced Care Practitioners to ensure our extensive PCN multi-disciplinary team is used effectively, and patients benefit from a higher quality personalised care.
