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Total Triage

Dear Fenham Hall Medical Group patients,

We wish to share some very exciting news about a significant change to our appointment system that will improve the way our surgery delivers care to all of our patients.

From the 16th June 2025 we are moving to a Total Triage model.

What is Total Triage?
Total triage is a General Practice workflow where every patient contacting a practice first provides some information on the reasons for contact and is triaged before making an appointment using either the NHS app or Consult our doctors online (eConsult) online form.

All patient requests will be triaged by one of our experienced GPs who will decide what the best course of action is. Where necessary, we might ask you to answer a few additional questions to help our doctor prioritise those patients who need more urgent care.

You could be given a face to face or telephone appointment; you could have a reply from the GP with self-care advice or you could be signposted to a more appropriate service.

We will have three types of appointments:

• Same day – for emergencies (A member of staff will contact you to book the appointment)
• Within 7 days – for patients that need to see or speak to a healthcare professional soon, but not urgently (You will receive a self-book link to book your appointment)
• More than 7 days – for routine appointments (You will receive a self-book link to book your appointment)

The main purpose of the Total Triage model is to:

• enhance the quality of care our patients receive
• ensure they are given the most appropriate appointment or advice to meet their needs
• communicate with patients in a timely way

How does it work?
All patients need to submit their request via the surgery’s website or NHS App by filling the ‘Consult our doctors online’(eConsult) form.

Ideally, patients will submit their own request however we appreciate that this may not be possible for some patients. If you are unable to use or access the online form then please contact the surgery by telephone and we will complete the request for you, which will be added to the triage list to be reviewed by the GP.

Please note we will no longer be letting patients book appointments at the front desk to ensure privacy.

After the GP will review your request, you will either receive a call to be offered a same day appointment, receive a self-book link or you might receive a message with advice from the GP.
Please note that in order for the GP to triage your request in a timely manner it is very important to provide detailed and accurate information about your symptoms.
For example, if a patient has a cough, it would be much easier for the GP to triage the request with the following information: ‘I had a cough for 10 days. I have already used over the counter medicine, but it is not helping and in the last couple of days my cough has been worsening and it feels chestier. I also have a high temperature.’

If the information given is less detailed, such as ‘I had a cough for 10 days’, it makes it harder for the GP to triage and we will need more information.

The Total Triage service will be open Monday to Friday. During the weekend or bank holidays please continue to use the 111 service or call 999 for life threatening emergencies. We would be grateful if you would avoid sending an eConsult on a Monday if it is not urgent.

Please note that at times we may temporarily suspend the online triage form to help manage the demand. In these circumstances you will see the following:

• a message to advise that the Patient Triage is temporarily unavailable and information on when the link will be active again and how to contact the practice another way
• a message prompting patients to use NHS 111 online, to find a local pharmacy or attend the Urgent Treatment Centre

How does this benefit you?
We know that change can be difficult sometimes, but we are confident that Total Triage will bring many benefits to our patients – for example:

• Total Triage has been shown to reduce waiting times and it enables us to attend to your medical needs more promptly.
• Using digital communication will mean that you can engage with us from the comfort of your home or workplace.
• Triage ensures that limited healthcare resources are allocated to patients who need them most urgently.
• Total Triage will address the increasing demand for appointments and reduce the frustration of having to call and be in a long queue at 8.30am.

If you have any questions or concerns our team is here to guide and support you.

Thank you for supporting us with this new project.

Sincerely,

The Fenham Hall Medical Group Team

 

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Initial data looks promising following the implementation of the total triage system:

Telephony data:

  • There has currently only been a slight drop in incoming calls, however we have seen a drop in the number of calls previously not connected.
  • There is also evidence of a drop in average call length from 9mins 49sec to 4mins 52 seconds allowing more calls to come through
  • Average wait time has dramatically reduced from 7mins 51seconds to 2mins 58seconds
  • Average answer time has reduced from 8mins 23seconds to 3mins 7 seconds
  • Average queue length has reduced from 51 to 27

eConsult:

  • Naturally there has been a significant increase in the number of eConsults submitted, 2/3rds of eConsults are being submitted either by website or via the NHS App which is brilliant.
  • eConsult lite proportion is around 30% which is about average if not better than average for most Total Triage practices.

NHS App Data:

  • Following implementation of Total Triage there has also been a natural spike in NHS App usage, number of logins has increased by about 1,500 per month
  • for the past two months registrations have gone up by from 50 to 80/90
  • there has also been an increase in the number of prescriptions ordered monthly by about 100 per month since June.

Staff Survey:

  • We have seen an improvement in how staff feel the Total Triage works for them.