Jane Lindo, Deputy Programme Director of Transforming Primary Care, on why #GPonlineLondon benefits practices and patients…
I am really excited about the changes taking place in primary care and the digital journey currently underway to provide patients with greater access and involvement in their health. Part of this journey is the continued roll out of GP online services across London. Over the last few years, the transforming primary care team has been working with CCGs and CSUs across the capital to achieve this and the feedback so far has been extremely positive from patients and practices.
GP online services provides patients who register with the ability to book and cancel appointments, order repeat prescriptions and view their health records online. This includes information about their treatments, vaccinations and allergies. They can also get their test results and view any follow up notes from clinicians.
Patients can safely log in from the comfort of their homes, at work or even when they are away from home.
Having these services online is also extremely beneficial for practices; time saved on the phones booking and cancelling appointments frees up precious time for practice staff to focus on other areas of patient care and administration.
Practices where online appointments are already offered have benefited from a 30 per cent reduction in Did Not Attends (DNAs) – appointments made and not cancelled. The cancellation of these appointments then allows other patients to utilise them, creating greater patient satisfaction and time efficiency in practices.
1.7m people have already registered for online services across London and we want to see an increase in this number so that more people can experience the benefits GP online services has to offer.
This summer, Healthy London Partnership will launch a public facing awareness campaign about GP online services. The campaign will include advertising across London, online promotion as well as a social media. We will continue our support to practices and pharmacies ensuring all Londoners have the option to access GP online services.”
Find out what Healthy London Partnership is doing to promote online GP services in London.
In: Blog
Tagged: GP online, primary care