The Triage is a fancy word that basically means that a full trained Advanced Nurse Practitioner will phone you and talk to you about your condition. This is basically an informational phone call to decide who would be the best member of our team to help you.
The clinician will then be able to determine if you do need to see someone in practice or not. They are, if applicable, also able to arrange treatments / medication, referrals, arrange appointments, or follow-up appointments.
It has been proven to make the process a lot more efficient for patients and clinicians.
Telephone Triage is a process by which the patient appointment system is managed in a GP surgery by the duty nurse practitioner. It is a method by which a Nurse telephones the patient and assesses through a detailed history whether the patient’s medical problem can be managed without the patient having to come in for a face to face appointment. This may be appropriate in cases when patients wish to discuss blood results, hospital letters or X ray/scan results. However if the patient needs to come in then an appointment will be made with the appropriate healthcare professional be it a GP, Nurse Practitioner, Nurse or Healthcare Assistant.
Telephone Triage Service Explained
Triage is the process by which patient access is managed in this surgery when all of the routine appointments have been taken. Telephone Triage is a method by which a health professional contacts a patient and manages their care based on the outcome of that telephone call.
- Is this to stop me getting an appointment?
No not at all – it is to ensure that Patients who need to be seen THAT DAY are seen by the appropriate health care professional. Additionally a telephone call by a health care professional often manages the patients concerns even if an appointment is not required. - How does it work?
Any patient who needs to be seen urgently on a day when all the routine appointments have gone has their name and contact details put onto a triage list. A Nurse Practitioner then contacts the patient and either books them into an emergency clinic set up precisely for that purpose or else the problem is dealt with appropriately in another way
g. blood test arranged, referral completed, prescription discussed, appointment made with another health care professional
We regularly audit this process to ensure that it is achieving the goals and expectations that we set and is helping us to improve access. We will continue to listen to feedback and work with both patients and our Patient participation group to improve and develop our service.
