Even if your phone lines don’t feel that busy at the moment, there could be some inequity in who is accessing your service. By adopting a total triage approach, patients can contact the practice in a way that is best for them, and be treated in exactly the same way. By taking everything through this channel, it’s not simply those who shout the loudest that get prioritised.

Total triage can also empower your Reception Team whilst improving patient access. Alleviating decision-making pressure on your staff from the phone lines is an important factor in staff well-being and consistency in care.

A total triage model not only creates space for these patients on the phone, but it improves their access experience too. By signposting those who are comfortable towards your online form, you reduce the inbound through to your phone lines and can spend more time helping those who need more support.

Total triage standardises the information you receive, meaning these cohorts of patients both receive the same care in a way that works best for them.

Total triage allows the practice to care for patients using the most appropriate resources for their symptoms. By collecting all of the relevant information from the start of a patient’s journey, your staff can make more informed decisions about what would be best for the patient. Whether that be signposting to community services, a phone call, or a face-to-face appointment in 10 days’ time, your patients will receive the most effective care in a way that is efficient for both your appointment book and your staff.

The total triage approach incorporates traditional channels for getting in contact with the GPs, rather than excluding them.

After adopting a total triage workflow, you should find that your inbound becomes a much more manageable and steady process. Patients understand that they will receive an outcome from the practice without queueing at opening time, therefore eliminating the 8am rush and alleviating request and appointment bottlenecks.

Being able to prioritise and book patients in a time frame suitable for their condition leaves more urgent slots open for patients who need them. If you are finding that you are hitting capacity, there are a number of tools in Accurx that can help you to manage this demand. See this article for more information!

There are different ways to implement the total triage model, and the focus is more on efficiency over changing roles or responsibilities. The workflow allows receptionists to spend more time with the patients that need it and improves job satisfaction by creating more opportunities to vary their workload and up-skill in other areas.

Effective triage requires skilled and experienced clinicians; this will not take GPs away from more meaningful work. Some will have to spend time triaging medical requests and making decisions on actions for these patients, much like a duty doctor role. The rest of the clinicians will see and treat patients as normal.

When you transition to a total triage model, depending on your preference or availability of staff you may choose clinicians or care navigators to triage requests. By triaging all requests instead of doing first come first serve, you are able to ensure that appointments are allocated to patients with medical needs.

This means the clinicians not involved in triaging are able to spend time seeing patients who really need them and are able to tailor that care according to needs. It means no more rushing to get through a list as quickly as possible because those unnecessary appointments have been removed.

We're committed to providing our users with the best products, resources and support for their workflows. Patient Triage is designed with intuitiveness and integration in mind, meaning that your move to total triage can be complemented by a smooth, end-to-end experience, all within one familiar app.

From 1-1 training calls and live webinars to our dedicated Support Team and resource centre, our implementation support is comprehensive and can help you identify workflows that enhance both staff and patient experience.

Most users rely on a combination of Accurx’s SMS functionality when using a total triage model. From sending Self-Book links to supercharge your appointment bookings, to requesting more information using Floreys (our patient questionnaires) and two-way messaging.

Users might experience higher fragment usage when first implementing total triage. An increase in fragments through this model doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re spending more overall. When considering the projected cost and time savings of using total triage (and other integrated workflows with proven benefits such as Self-Book), the returns you get from reliable software like Accurx are greater than fragment costs. We always recommend that you keep messages as succinct as possible to reduce fragments.

Our software balances simple, modern technology with human intuition. Patient Triage supports all patients inbound, irrespective of whether the request was submitted by the patient or the practice. Our priorities continue to be patient and practice experience, and we’re committed to building features if we’re sure it will improve this experience.

By not incorporating AI at this stage, our patient form remains simple and easy to use, with standardised questions for improved clinical record keeping, form completion and timely care navigation.

If you have any questions or feedback, please do get in touch with our Support Team using the live chat feature in the bottom-right 💬 👉