There is a widely held belief that a strengthened version of general practice is essential to the wider sustainability of the NHS and that general practices themselves seem more open to new ways of working than ever before.
It’s about ‘Doing more with the same, rather than doing more will less’ but it’s also about ‘Doing things differently’ and that means addressing both skills and processes. There have been two significant changes to the delivery of care in general practice.
The first is the acceptance that virtual consultations will be the default method by which the majority of all clinical / patient contact will take place.
The second is that contact with the practice team will be routed through digital methods rather than by attending or calling in person. New principles and processes are emerging to help embed and support these new working methods as traditional roles are either adapted or replaced.
To enable a more streamlined GP workload, valuable GP time must be released. This will be achieved by training non-clinical staff to manage all incoming documentation including clinical correspondence and safely redirecting only the most appropriate information to GP’s.