Riverport Medical Practice provides care under the General Medical Services contract. The changes to the GMS contract in May 2023 meant we were asked to change the way we deal with, and respond to, GP appointment requests.

Firstly we have increased the number of ways our patients can request a GP appointment. This has been designed to improve accessibility, and has not restricted any of the previous ways in which patients can request an appointment. 

You can request a GP appointment by:
– Speaking to a member of our Reception Team at one of our surgeries in person
– Telephoning the Practice on 01480 466611
– Completing our online appointment request form
– Accessing our online appointment request form via the NHSapp

Our team will aim to review and respond to your appointment request on the same day, and within 1 working day. We will respond to your GP appointment request in one of four ways:
1. invite the patient to an appointment with a suitable clinician (usually face-to-face, but occasionally telephone appointment if clinically appropriate)
2. provide appropriate advice to the patient
3. direct the patient towards other appropriate services
4. communicate with the patient to:
a. request further information, or
b. convey when and how the patient will receive further information.

Riverport Medical Practice has a Triage Team of Care Navigators and Duty Doctors who review all our incoming GP appointment requests. This process allows us to safely allocate patients to appropriate services, both within and outside our Practice. Below are the various care pathways our team can recommend:
– on-the-day assessment by another clinician for cases perceived to be urgent assessment at another time by a clinician for cases relating to longer-term and non-urgent conditions
– signpost to another service where another service is appropriate e.g. mental health support, community services, community pharmacy
– signpost to 111, A&E, or an overflow hub when capacity in the practice is reached
– request further information – for example via digital tools such as a text message, or asking for a photo.

We are working hard to deliver care that is both safe and effective for patients, as well as safe and sustainable for the Practice. This is challenging, as we understand that demand for GP appointments continually exceeds our supply of appointments. For this
reason, we have to carefully consider each appointment request to determine an appropriate response and care pathway. Instead of triaging appointment requests after our capacity has been exceeded, we triage appointments all day, every day. This prevents appointments being allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, and allows clinical prioritisation of all appointments. 

More information on challenges facing General Practice can be found at bma.org.uk/

If you would like to join our Patient Participation Group, to discuss solutions and ideas for providing safe and effective services, please visit link