Online Triage - Information

From 6 May 2025 we are moving to a quick and simple online triage form called Accurx to triage ALL routine and urgent appointment requests and to assist you with medical and administrative queries.  This can be accessed  though our website, or via the NHS app. Patients who call or walk in will be assisted by the reception team to complete the Online Triage Form.

All requests for appointments will be reviewed by a GP. Patients will be offered an appointment within the RIGHT time frame, the RIGHT clinician and via the RIGHT method (face to face, telephone, online).

 

We will contact patients for same day appointments by phone to book in for the corresponding morning or afternoon session in time order. Please note if you submit a urgent request, please be available to attend the practice if needed. We are unable to book same day appointments on future days.

If you are sent a self-booking link, you will be able to see the available appointments. The link will last 7 days and new appointments are released every day at 9am. If at first, there are no convenient times, you can recheck for new appointments for up to 7 days. To ensure continuity, where possible appointments will be offered with a clinician that has previously dealt with an ongoing issues. Where clinical needs overrides continuity you will be offered the next available appointments.

 

Our admin staff do not have access to additional appointments, what you see is the same as what we can see!

Our practice phone lines will remain open for anyone with accessibility needs who might find it difficult to complete these links and a member of our patient support team will help complete it with you.

 

Please see Patient Triage: Patient guide | Accurx Help Centre for detailed information on how Patient Triage works.

 

Patient Triage uses quick a simple online form which patients fill in when they wish to contact the surgery. For medical issues it contains 3 questions, which should only take a few minutes to fill in. Whether you visit in person or contact us by phone our patient support team will no longer be directly booking your appointment.

 

 

Our practice phone lines will remain open for anyone with accessibility needs who might find it difficult to complete this form and a member of our patient support team will complete it with you.

 

 

In the same way that clinicians frequently use an official translation service on the phone, the patient support team will also be able to access this if the patient they are speaking to is on the phone or in person in the surgery.

 

 

The reception team will no longer be making GP appointments with patients directly. All methods of completing the triage forms, either online, in person or over the phone will be assessed equally.

 

 

Medical queries will be submitted to our GP-led triage team. A member of the team will respond to you within 2 working days. Conditions that need to be assessed on the same day will be prioritised. The triage team may send you a request for further information in the form of a short questionnaire specific to your issue.

 

 

We will continue to have a duty doctor every day to deal with emergencies. Conditions that require a same day assessment will be booked in on the same day or directed to an appropriate service. A member of our patient support team will contact you directly to arrange an appointment after your form has been triaged by a GP.

 

 

Please only submit one medical issue per Accurx Patient Triage form, so that you can add sufficient detail for each problem, to allow our GPs to appropriately deal with your request.

 

 

There is an option to submit an admin query on the online form for general administrative issues such as requesting a letter from a doctor and fit notes. A member of the Patient Support Team will respond to you within 5 working days.

 

 

There is an option to specify which clinician the patient would like to see. We will try to meet this request, availability permitting.

 

 

Our team may send you a text message inviting you to book your own appointment online.

 

 

We believe that patient triage is the most effective way that we can sustain a safe and accessible service for our patients based on clinical need. 

The changes have come about from listening to patients who have raised concerns about access and we have spoken to our Patient Participation Group about the challenges we are experiencing with regards to increasing patient need, available staffing resources and the difficulties with the queues on the phone system. These changes aim to maximise available appointments to those in the most clinical need whilst opening assess.

This change should make it easier to submit requests to the practice and ensure that requests are seen by the most appropriate member of staff and dealt with in an appropriate timeframe.