NHS England is seeking tech specialists to tackle the ‘8am rush’ for GP appointments.
Tech suppliers have been invited to tender for its Digital Pathways Framework intended to enhance practices’ ability to provide online consultations and patient communication.
The framework comes as part of a suite of commercial frameworks intended to allow buyers to purchase standardish digital systems, NHS England said.
It also includes proposals for systems to improve management of bookings, messaging and consultations, in addition to potential to enhance prescription ordering for patients, video consultations and cross-organisation bookings.
Earlier this year, the Government announced GP practices would be given £240m to implement new technology, expected to cover a four-year period from January 2024.
NHS England’s director of digital primary care Mark Sayers said: ‘Surgeries with modern messaging, online booking, and video consultation systems find they have more capacity and less of an 8am rush, while giving patients a convenient way to get the help they need.
‘I’d encourage all suppliers to come forward who are able to provide the high-quality tools and technology needed to support our vision for modern general practice.’
And health minister Neil O’Brien said: ‘As well as growing staff numbers in GPs by 30% since 2019, we are also investing £240 million to give GPs the latest technology. We are working to abolish the 8am rush and make it easier to see your GP in a convenient way.’
However, a Pulse survey carried out in June this year found that almost half of GPs who have already implemented ‘modern’ access measures prescribed by the general practice recovery plan say that it has not helped improve access.
Last week, GP practices which have not yet transitioned from analogue to digital telephony were informed they must sign a contract by mid-December in order to receive funding. NHS England has urged ICBs to contact all local GP practices who remain on analogue systems, which amounts to around 20% of practices nationally.
This week NHS England instructed ICBs to prioritise ‘financial balance’, with the GP recovery plan among a host of targets being deprioritised for now.
A version of this article was first published by Pulse’s sister title Healthcare Leader
Moor doors on the bus when what it actually needs is more seats. Currently GP appts are more like musical chairs. An unseemly rush for deliberately curtailed availability.
Bus capacity including standing passengers is governed by statute. If GPs are perceived as having to offer unlimited capacity, increasing access whether through digital telephony, online consultations, and whatever new gimics NHSE dream up, the situation can only get worse.
Get Matt the App back! Technology and under qualified staff will save the day.
Now you can run out of appointments at 8:25 not 8:30!
This is all crap. I’m damn good at remote consulting, I should be, 30 years+ GP. Yet I know it’s not remotely the same as F2F. We are selling our souls complying with this rubbish. The NHS is 3 compartments flooded and going down fast, Capn. Barclay isn’t on the bridge, he’s hiding somewhere making delusional plans playing with illusory digital lifeboats. When this boat sinks, let’s hope he’s as lost as Captain Smith.