New Online Appointment Booking at Wem and Prees Medical Practice
We know from your valued feedback how difficult it can be to get through to the practice on the telephone to arrange an appointment. Despite increasing our phone line capacity and employing more receptionists to take calls, waits can still be long at peak times and often throughout the day.
We have now completed our review of our existing booking system and listened to patient feedback from our Patient Participation group. After careful thought we have made the decision to move to an online system for requesting appointments and for any administrative queries.
From 8th April 2024 patients will be asked to submit a simple online form to contact the practice rather than phoning or coming into reception to book.
The form is clearly displayed and available on our website. It can be accessed via a smart phone, computer, or tablet. Once received our clinical and admin teams will review the forms the same day, and patients will then be contacted with the appropriate appointment or advice.
This model of practice is called Total Triage and helps us to prioritise urgent care and utilise the many members of our skilled primary care team appropriately.
All requests for any type of appointment, and all other queries can be quickly and easily submitted via the online form.
Below is a link to the form, and a link to a short video tutorial on how to complete the form.
If you do not have access to a smartphone, or computer, or are unable to use the online form you will still be able to telephone the practice. A receptionist will be able to submit the form on your behalf by completing it with you over the telephone. However, it will greatly improve our access on the telephone if all those patients that CAN use the online form do use it. Completing the form online will be quicker than waiting on the telephone to speak to a receptionist.
Patients who attend the practice to book an appointment or have an administrative request will be signposted to the online form or assisted to complete it by one of our reception team.
If you would like to find out more about using the online form, we will be holding several interactive help sessions, supported by our PPG, where you will have the opportunity to try it for yourself. You are welcome to drop in at any of these sessions. Dates will follow in due course and will be on the patient noticeboards and our website.
We are committed to providing excellent access to appointments for all our patients and are excited about incorporating new technology that we feel will improve our patients’ experience of contacting the practice.
Yours sincerely,
For and on behalf of The Partners Wem and Prees Medical Practice