PCNs tasked with monitoring cloud telephony data

PCNs are being tasked with monitoring and analysing data from cloud telephony, according to NHS England guidance.

In a guide on how to improve telephone journeys in general practice, published last month among a series of guides on modern general practice, NHS England said PCNs should be ‘proactively’ managing demand and capacity across the PCN service.

It said: ‘PCNs can share resources and information and can create local networks of knowledge and peer support. This shared active learning is often a positive step towards developing a sustainable approach to improvement and change.’

It recommended that PCNs make sure the data from practices is measured in the same way and combined to give a PCN-wide picture, which can be used to monitor trends to support decision-making.

‘Having common telephony equipment and common working arrangements and comparable data enables practices/primary care networks (PCNs) to work together more closely,’ said the guidance.

Clinical directors have said while changing from analogue to cloud-based systems is a ‘no-brainer’, that the idea that PCNs should dictate which systems practices use is ‘wide of the mark’.

Dr Matt Prendergast, PCN North clinical director at University Health Service, Highfield, Southampton, said while combining data across a PCN would be ‘useful’, that it ‘assumes the PCN is working well together’.

His practice has just formed a single practice PCN, and he says while his previous PCN worked well, they had different systems and demographics.

‘Using data was interesting but not critical. The government push is for working at scale but in many cases that is not welcomed by the practices and difficult. The idea that the practices are run by the PCN is not correct and the idea that the CD can impose his or her will is wide of the mark,’ he said.

Dr Prendergast added that he had a good experience of cloud-telephony, but a key factor in terms of access is capacity.

‘An increase in the contract funding is key. In terms of getting one of the scarce appointments, cloud based is better than analogue, but practices can avoid the rush by not opening all their appointments at eight in the morning and allowing different entry points rather than just the telephone,’ he said.

Digital transformation lead at Southampton North PCN, Michael Penston, said cloud telephony was a ‘must’ for practices to efficiently manage their incoming workloads.

However, he added he was ‘sceptical’ about the benefits of standardised phone systems across PCNs.

‘It seems far more sensible for each practice to design systems that work best for their particular population. Geographically, PCNs can cover vastly different demographics,’ he said. ‘Our PCN has a very large university-based practice, a small practice with residents of an affluent area, and other practices which have a mix of more working-age, older populations with a mix of areas of deprivation and affluence.

‘The freedom each practice has to tailor services to the population we serve is the most valuable tool we have in primary care.’

However, Dr Neil Paul CD at SMASH PCN in Cheshire disagreed, saying that doing it at PCN level was an ‘ideal’ place to monitor cloud telephony data due to the time pressures of doing so.

He said: ‘Digital transformation leads can help – practice managers are busy and frankly being an expert on IT telephony isn’t top of their list. Headspace is an issue – learning lessons, sharing best practice – all of these come at scale – a PCN or GP federation is in an ideal place to work with its practices to help them.’

He added that practices need to see this as help and not ‘punishment or control’, which was a ‘difficult balance’.

Digital transformation lead at Wandsworth PCN in South West London, Daniel Gollop, added that having the ability to monitor data and trends across the network will be valuable in order to make sure each practice’s needs will be catered to at PCN level.

However, he added that using data to support decisions ‘will only get you so far’.

‘If there is an unforeseen event for example staff sickness you may still lack the capacity, therefore it is also important to have appropriate contingency plans in place to support this.’

Dr Dan Bunstone clinical director at Warrington Innovation Network, added that ‘interrogating’ the data can help make changes to the telephony pathways and make them work better.

‘As a practice you can track your demand levels, the days when demand is greatest and plan against that with smart rota management,’ he said, adding that cloud telephony was ‘so much more than queue management’.

He added at his PCN, they use cloud telephony alongside smart AI triage, which has been ‘a real positive shift in gear’ across the PCN.

‘Combined, the two systems enable us to navigate patients to the right team member for their needs, creating a very efficient system and really maximising the benefits offered to us by our ARRS teams,’ he said.

It comes as PCN leaders are to drive demand and capacity test sites as part of several ICB pilots that hope to understand the gap between demand and capacity in primary care.