4.1 This policy will be made available on the practice website, in the waiting area and in the practice leaflet
setting out:
– Opening hours and clinic times, including extended hours
– Types of appointment, e.g. urgent, on the day, face-to-face, telephone, online or video, in advance,
arrive/sit and wait, long-term conditions, nurse procedures and clinics, immunisations, and travel etc.
– Appointment booking methods (telephone, online, in person)
– Practice protocol for answering telephone calls, e.g. within a certain time and information on call
recording
– Home visit request guidance
– When and why a double appointment may be necessary
– How to cancel an appointment
– The statement on missed appointments at Raydocs
– Out of hours GP arrangements
4.2 Raydocs will identify and use the most safe and effective systems, processes and qualified skill mix for
appointments that will sustainably meet Patient’s needs. Raydocs will respond to Patient demand, and will
commit to keep Patient access under continuous review.
4.3 An appropriate number of clinical, associated healthcare professional, nurse and non-clinical practice
staff will be on duty throughout operational times in order to provide optimum access face-to-face and via
the telephone, and online to deal with appointments, workload and queries that arise from Patient access.
4.4 The Raydocs Annual Holiday policy sets out how much notice each member of the practice team
(clinical and non-clinical) must give when requesting annual leave, how annual leave is requested and
logged, how popular times are dealt with on an equal basis and how many practice team members of each
type can be on leave simultaneously. All appointments system operation issues resulting from breaches in
the annual leave policy of Raydocs will be resolved by Management.
4.5 Raydocs operates a telephone system that processes calls quickly and consistently at standard UK call
rates, and has the appropriate number of staff to answer the telephone throughout the day, according to
call volume and internal call answering targets, taking account of any delays (e.g. a cloud based telephone
system that holds calls which are not detected or identified by call handlers).
4.6 Triage of telephone calls and online requests by clinical and non-clinical members of the practice team
is carried out according to Raydocs protocol, without variation. There is training to support individual roles
with regular monitoring, audit and review of this element of the Patient access system.
4.7 Members of staff who handle access request telephone calls must receive regular training in call
handling skills to provide callers with a positive experience, avoiding them being put on hold or asked to
call back. To protect Patient’s confidentiality and provide a high-quality Patient
experience, appointment calls are answered and handled where they cannot be overheard by others
i.e. not on the front reception desk or anywhere within range of the waiting room.
4.8 Raydocs will prioritise requests for home visits to assess whether it is clinically necessary and, if so,
how quickly the Patient needs to be seen. To ensure consistent handling of visit requests that are safe for
Patients, all clinical and non-clinical staff involved in the process are aware of their responsibilities through
regular review of performance and training needs.
Home visits are mostly made only to housebound or seriously unwell Patients in order to maximise available
clinical time and to encourage Patients to use the appointment system responsibly and according to
need. This is explained on Raydocs’s website, in practice literature and via other practice communication
methods.
4.9 Online access to the booking and the cancellation of appointments is available for Patients with secure
online access, set-up via the online access system of Raydocs or the NHS App. As a minimum, the
proportion of online appointments offered complies with national and local requirements, with the online
appointments ratio kept under regular review to meet the needs of the Patient profile.
4.10 To prevent appointments being missed, Raydocs will seek consent via the opt-in method to send SMS
text reminders for appointments to Patients. Raydocs will provide an explanation about the information that
will be sent by text and the security arrangements in place. Raydocs will confirm with the Patient their
contact details to ensure the number intended to receive SMS text messages is up to date and correct. Text messaging is not used routinely for serious or important messages such as requests for
urgent follow-up. SMS text message consent must be stored in the Patient’s medical records.
4.11 Raydocs records all missed appointments and follows up with Patients to ascertain the reason (if
possible) to prevent any recurrence. If a Patient consistently misses appointments, and removal from the
list becomes the last and only resort for Raydocs, the Patient will have received a recorded formal warning
about this conduct at least once in the preceding twelve month period.
4.12 For the purposes of Patient safety and audit, notes, messages and any material Patient information
(e.g. presented on loose sheets of paper) is scanned into the clinical system or the information added to
the clinical system, for action, follow up or as a record that the information has been received whether or
not an action of any kind was necessary.
4.13 Patient Choice
Patient choice may include the option for Raydocs Patients to see a GP or other clinician or be signposted
to access a range of services. Patients have the option to request a named GP or clinician, but this may
delay access to care and treatment. Raydocs should make Patients aware of this.
Wherever possible, Raydocs clinicians should advise Patients to re-book with the same member of staff for
continuity of care. Although this may delay access, it improves outcomes and brings other benefits for both
the Patient and clinician. Continuity of care provides the foundation for safe, efficient and coordinated care
especially for those Patients with complex and multiple needs.