Dive in with both feet. Hybrid will not work so make sure you give this 100% from the get-go. This will help with patient clarity, soft launching will just open up another channel making it confusing for your patient group.

Send a welcome message to newly registered patients introducing the total triage model.

Shout about success stories. Why not print these out and have them available for practice staff and patients?

Accept the fact that you won’t be able to clear the inbox every day. Instead, ensure your practice has a handover process so that someone can continue where another left off the following day.

Adjust your rota accordingly.

Allow time for natural breaks to help with decision fatigue.

Iterate over your categorisation before coming up with a rag rating for your requests.

Keep track of the data! (Number of calls, triage requests, appointments made etc…) You may have appointments still available at the end of the day so ensure you’re keeping track of this. Take a look at our triage data tracker template:
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Try and keep your Patient Triage form open (but enable capacity if needed).

Push as many patients online as possible. Use “Reception Flow” to record phone calls and walk-in requests.

Clear your backlog before you start and set your first week up for success.

Try to practise a minimal one-touch approach. If you can't triage it, then it may need an appointment.

Watch out for multiple requests coming through from the same patient. Keep an eye on the patient notes to ensure you’re not booking multiple appointments unnecessarily.

Ensure patients have an opportunity to ask questions and seek reassurance if need be. Allow for a question forum, this could be via your social media.

Be strict. Tell patients that clinical capacity is full for the day if needed and send them elsewhere.

Reiterate the ways in which this will benefit patients and practice staff going forward. This should be done regularly.

Positively reinforce staff following go live.

Chase the smiley face! 😊 It can be tempting to try and ‘complete’ the inbox by reaching the smiley face you see when you have marked all triage requests as ‘done’. However this should not be treated as a win or lose for your practice, the trick is to just keep it going!

Get lost in the forecasting. You will need to keep iterating over this as a practice.

Try to transition slowly. Once you’re prepared, have the confidence to do a full launch to realise benefits quicker, rather than a step-wise approach

Ignore the admin requests folder. Some patients may try to submit medical requests as admin requests.