The Importance of Digital Telephony for GPs & Healthcare

Pressure on General Practice 

As an increased aging population combines with the financial constraints within healthcare; it’s not just blood pressure which is rising, pressure on general practices is too - with patient surgeries having to work within limited time and resources. So, what’s the cure? The role of digital first primary care may not be the only remedy but it certainly is one solution which is definitely going a long way to help managing it. 

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Moving forward…

Technology should (as the GP Partnership Review suggests) assist GP partners with their workloads whilst helping to maintain the best possible personalised holistic care. 

A current focus on video consultations and virtual comms relies on a reliable infrastructure. Telephony and communication services are becoming widely recognised as platforms for ‘digital-first’ primary care. Incorporating such innovation will inevitably ease the demands on daily mounting tasks.

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Smartphone culture 

The rise in smartphones and widespread reliable broadband means that more patients are not only able to access digital/remote GP care, they expect it too. Thankfully automated messages allowing patients to manage appointments and record symptoms (efficiently and secure online) is just one way to reduce the strain on healthcare admin staff. 

Making the transition to digital healthcare may seem like added pressure in itself but with the right provider to assist with features including call handling features, messaging and video consultations; upgrading for most surgeries and hospitals could be much smoother than anticipated.

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What about regular calls? 

Despite technological advancements, telephone triage and appointment scheduling remain a core service within GP surgeries and hospitals. 

Consider this, according to GP patient surveys:

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• Around 8 in 10 patients use a phone to book a GP appointment 
• An increasing number of appointments are now conducted over the phone (becoming the preferred option of many patients).
• Approximately 98%+ of the UK adult population has a mobile phone

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With the ‘big analogue switch off’ in 2025 fast approaching and more sectors going cloud-based, the uptake in VoIP (hosted / Unified Comms) systems is increasingly popular. In fact, it’s becoming a necessity. Many GP practices still use traditional phone systems, consisting of an on-site private branch exchange (PBX). This system connects through fixed lines to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). When the ISDN switch off does happen, such traditional telephony will become obsolete; which is why more surgeries are making the move now. 

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Digital telephony, underpinned by the right infrastructure can deliver a wealth of administrative and financial benefits for practices and smoother (more efficient) access for patients. 

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Many practices using advanced GP digital telephony have experienced less ‘failed to attend appointments’ and a significantly lighter administration load. Both patients and staff enjoyed: 

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• Automated appointment booking
• Medication reminders
• An increased number of phone lines 
• Secure and innovative features such as ‘call recording’

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Digital data…

Reporting on call handling (across multiple sites) is much easier to collect via digitalised telephony. So, when it comes to setting standards for better patient experience, the NHS has invaluable data available to hand.

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Telehealth 

Combining telephone communication and healthcare isn’t anything new. Introducing greater automation, cloud-based innovation and communication integration is. However, with more practices now going digital, it will gradually become the ‘norm’. 

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The Government plans for all GP surgeries to digital phone lines by 2024

FIND OUT all you need to know about the latest digital telephony and ancillary services.

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