Important Changes - Appointments System

From Monday 8^th January we will be introducing a 'Total Triage’ appointment system. We will transition from our current hybrid model of eConsult, telephone and walk-in booking to a ‘total triage’ model. We will continue to operate an ‘On the day’ service.  Please contact the practice on the same day you wish to receive a response. 

We are increasing our eConsult operation times to 06:30am-12 noon Monday to Friday.  This will ensure that we are able to deal with all eConsults safely and appropriately within the correct time frame. Should you have a need for urgent input after 12noon, you can call reception as usual and you will be asked a few questions to fill an ‘eConsult lite’ via our Reception Staff. This helps to ensure that your enquiry is dealt with by the correct person.

All incoming online consultations, both eConsult, and eConsult Lite will then be triaged by a clinician, who will decide on the most appropriate mode of care delivery. 

We aim to respond to all eConsults within 48 hours, but most will be the same day. If you have submitted an online consultation, there is no need to call the practice to check we’ve received your request, please be assured we will contact you.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time. These changes are being made to improve our access and to help our patients to gain the most appropriate advice and assistance in a safe and more efficient way.

How will it work?

Patients submits an enquiry in their own time (between 06:30am and 12 noon) through a structured online consultation form via the practice website, or patient phones the practice and administrative staff complete an online consultation form (or a shortened version as a template) on behalf of the patient.

Administrative staff filter admin requests and send clinical queries to the most appropriate clinician flagging urgent requests.

The clinical history is presented in a way that is quick and easy to assimilate. Clinician responds through the most appropriate channel.

The Outcome:

• Text message or email
• Video Consultation
• Telephone consultation
• Face-to-face consultation
• Physio "self book" link - patient to book an appointment convenient to them directly into our system.
• Advice and guidance - web link self-help
• Prescription & notification

FAQs

What is total triage?

Total Triage means you will be asked to contact the surgery by eConsult for all your admin and clinical queries.  The Doctor will review all clinical eConsults and patients will be allocated to the most appropriate service. This may be a Doctor, The Triage Team, Physiotherapist or other community services.  We will continue to operate an on the day service.

What if i do not have access to a computer or cannot complete the form myself?

You may ask a friend or relative to help you.  If this is not possible, you may call the surgery- our staff will ask you the questions in an ‘eConsult lite’, which will provide enough information for the clinical staff to review. The answers will then filter through the same channel and be managed accordingly.

I do not like the eConsult form and find it time-consuming.

Whilst we have eConsult commissioned by our Integrated Care Board (ICB) We have listened to this feedback and tried several other products on the market.  Currently we have not found a product that satisfies both patient ease at completing the form versus clinical safety and ‘red flag’ alerting.  Therefore, we will continue to research but for now we will move forwards with eConsult.  We do feedback directly to eConsult with your comments and whilst we appreciate this will not satisfy all, we hope that you will find great care and timely responses to your requests.

How will I be responded to by the practce to know what I need to do?

You will be contacted by the practice on the day of your eConsult in the following ways: Telephone, Text, email.

GP appointment

For GP appointments, you will be added to the GP list (your own or your requested GP where possible).  The GP will then review in full your request and respond by Phone, Text or email as appropriate. (you may add what method of contact you would prefer within your eConsult)

GP appointment - face-to-face

For anything Triaged that will be better seen Face-to-Face  an appointment will be booked for you and a text message will be sent confirming the time of your appointment with a reply facility for you to confirm you can attend at that time. Should you wish to change this you can reply or call reception.

Physiotherapist or Practice Nurse

For Physio appointments, you may receive a ‘booking link’ to book a face-to-face appointment at a time convenient for you (we have a Physio working at The Wilson Practice Monday-Thursday weekly)

Self-help/ Further advice

You may receive a text or email with further advice/ information about a condition or drug that will be helpful to your query.

I don't want anyone to see my information other than my doctor

Our Reception team do need to ask basic questions for the request to filter into the eConsult clinical triage system, and to ensure that each query is allocated to the correct clinician.   We would like to assure you that all staff are trained in data protection and confidentiality.

Are the opening hours going to change?

YES! eConsult will be our main method of communication.  The initial opening times for eConsult from 8th January will be 06:30am- 12 noon.  Our phone lines and building will remain open from 08:00am-18:30pm.  We hope that opening up the access to eConsult will be more convenient for our patients and ease our phone lines creating a much quicker answering time. We will be monitoring the opening hours and hope to extend these however we are integrating into a new way of working so please bear with us.

Self Care

Hangover, cough, colds, grazes, small cuts, sore throat.

Self care is possible to treat minor illness & injuries.

A large range of common illnesses can be treated at home with simple over-the -counter  medications and rest.

Pharmacy 

Diarrhoea, earache, painful cough, sticky eye, teething, rashes

Self care is possible to treat minor illness & injuries.

A large range of common illnesses can be treated at home with simple over-the -counter  medications and rest.

Minor Ailments - Practice

Practice Nurse Prescribers offer minor illness appointments daily

Our Nurse Prescribers can help with many conditions including: cystitis earache, thrush, rashes, sore eyes, and sore throats. They can issue prescriptions but antibiotics will only be prescribed if the clinical indications are appropriate.

GP

Arthritis, asthma, back pain, vomiting, stomach ache.

GPs have an excellent understanding of general health issues.

Your GP Practice can deal with a wide range of general health problems and refer when required.

Minor Injuries

Cuts , sprains, bruises, itchy rash , minor burns and a range of other minor injuries.

The Practice runs a Minor Injuries service Monday to Friday 8am to 6.30pm.

We care for MINOR injuries. Fractures, bleeds or head injuries need assessment at Basingstoke Hospital

CALL NHS 111

Hangover, cough, colds, grazes, small cuts, sore throat, advice & guidance

If you are feeling unwell, unsure or if you want health advice & guidance for non-life threatening urgent cases call 111

24 hours a day
7 days a week
365 days a year

 999 Service

Severe bleeding, breathing difficulties, severe chest pain, loss of consciousness

Call 999 for serious life-threatening situations. Please click the link below  to understand more about emergencies.

24 hours a day
7 days a week
365 days a year

Mental Crisis

Mental health emergencies and serious  concerns for a person's mental health.

A variety of services are available to deal with a mental health crisis. Help is available through various agencies.

24 hours a day
7 days a week
365 days a year

COVID-19 SYMPTOMS

Patients with  symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, high temperature and loss of taste or smell), should dial 111 to access the COVID-19 Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS). 

This service will determine if the patient requires further attention in primary care. It will triage a patient and where appropriate, book a patient in to a practice directly. To access this service please call 111.

Do not attend the surgery if you have symptoms of Covid-19.

MINOR AILMENTS 

A Minor Ailments Scheme operates at some local pharmacies. If you do not pay for your prescriptions you can still be seen by a participating pharmacy rather than having to attend at your GP’s surgery. Please ask at reception or your local pharmacy for details of the ailments covered.

NHS APP

Patients can access a range of online services by downloading the NHS App including:

• Renew repeat prescription
• View your GP record, including information about medication, allergies, vaccinations, previous illnesses and test results. If not already enabled, please contact the practice.

The system is fully automated and will remotely check your ID. It can be activated even when the surgery is closed. If you do not have access to a smartphone, tablet or other suitable device please contact the surgery so that we can arrange other forms of access. A photo ID and proof of address are normally required when coming in to our reception.
These services are only available for patients over the age of 16 years. Parents or guardians cannot request access on behalf of children in their care unless by proxy access - ask reception for more information.

VIDEO CONSULTATION

Video consultations mean that patients can have an appointment by a completely secure video link from the comfort of their own home. 

To access the video consultation, please contact the practice. The service can be accessed once a remote clinical triage has been conducted.

ONLINE ACCESS

Available from 06:30am Monday to Friday (These will close daily when a safe capacity has been reached)

If you require GP advice, please use eConsult (click above) in the first instance - or
contact the surgery by telephone if you do not have access to the internet, our
team will help you to complete an ‘eConsult lite’ and will need to ask about
your need in order to do so.  We also have an iPad in the surgery if you
would like to come in to use this on front reception. A clinical triage team
will review your need and assign you to an appointment.  If you would
prefer face to face, call or text, please note this on your request. Econsults
are answered within 3 working days - although we do try to give a quicker
response.  eConsult should not be used for emergencies.

BOOK BY PHONE

Our phone lines are open at 8am. This is usually a busy time so we recommend ringing later in the morning for non-urgent requests and queries. If requesting an appointment, please be prepared to give our team as much information as possible to help us understand your requirements.

Face to face appointments are normally arranged after a telephone assessment has been completed. You may be asked to complete an eConsult request in certain circumstances.

In addition to our GPs, we have access to a wide range of healthcare professionals and services which may provide the most appropriate response for your needs. 

Urgent cases will be seen as a priority and less urgent cases can be booked ahead.

Our Advanced Nurse Practitioners are able to deal with many routine adult cases and can issue prescriptions or refer top other health professionals.
CANCEL YOUR APPOINTMENT ONLINEABOUT YOUR CONSULTATION
CALL 01420 84676CONSULTING TIMES

CHAPERONE

If you believe that you would require the presence of a chaperone during an examination or consultation by one of our clinicians, please ask our receptionist at the time of booking your appointment. (You may, if necessary, make such a request in the course of a consultation.) Our clinicians may also request the presence of a chaperone if they believe the circumstances warrant it. 

INDIVIDUAL GP TIMES

OUT OF HOURS

This out of hours period is from 6.30pm to 8am on weekdays, and all day at weekends and on bank holidays. 

To access this service, please call 111. The NHS 111 service will be able to assess your needs and advise the best service to meet those needs.

HOME VISITS

Most medical problems can be dealt with at the surgery, and patients are generally encouraged to attend the practice for a consultation with their doctor, if at all possible. However, we fully understand that some conditions or circumstances make surgery attendance impossible. In such cases we would ask that you phone the surgery before 10am.

 A member of the Duty team will call you back to assess your requirement and to see if they can help you by telephone. This enables the doctors and nurse practitioners to liaise and plan the home visits that need to be made.

For urgent home visits please phone the surgery in the usual way; you will be put in touch with our Rapid Access Team.

CALL 01420 84676  PRESS  OPTION 9

EXTENDED ACCESS

Early morning, later evening and Saturday Mornings

The A31 Group of Practices Primary Care Network (PCN) comprises, The Wilson Practice, Bentley Villages Surgery,  Boundaries Surgery in Four Marks and Chawton Park Surgery. We are working to develop improved GP services and enhanced access to services for all local patients. 

Patients across the A31 Group of Practices  can book nurse/ healthcare assistant (HCA) appointments at one of the practices during the following extended times:

• 8pm every weekday
• between 8am and 10am on Saturdays
• Tuesday Thursday and Friday mornings between 7am and 8am

Some of the above extended hours slots will be allocate to telephone consultations. Staffing at the above extended hours clinics includes: doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and receptionists from practices of the A31 Group of Practices.

When booking an extended hours "A31" extended hours appointment (early, later, Saturday morning or Sunday appointment) you will be asked to confirm your consent for a clinician from another practice accessing your records - regardless of the location at which the service is offered.

TO BOOK AN A31  "EARLY", "LATER," SATURDAY." or "SUNDAY" APPOINTMENT  SIMPLY CALL RECEPTION (01420 84676) AS YOU WOULD TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT AT THE WILSON PRACTICE

Basingstoke Hospital (RG24 9NA)

Sunday morning slots are available with a GP.

General Notes- Extended Hours

The clinicians working in the extended hours clinics are not available for urgent or emergency medical needs or for home visits. During the extended hours periods, our telephone lines at the practice are handed by the NHS 111 service.

CHILDREN COVID-19

COVID-19 tends to be mild, self-limiting respiratory illness in children. 

Prolonged illness and/severe symptoms should not be attributed to COVID-19 and should be evaluated as usual. The threshold for face-to-face assessment in general practice and for secondary care should not change during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health, dementia, learning disability & autism

Patients may feel distressed, anxious or low in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

There are lots of online resources on mental well-being which includes information on stress, anxiety, depression and well-being, and where to get emergency help for mental health needs. For more information, please use the following link:

TRANSLATION SERVICES

The move to remote consultation and use of PPE in face-to-face consultations requires additional considerations. For example, the impact of PPE on lip reading. The GOV.UK website provides advice for the public and is translated into multiple languages. The Doctors of the World has translated relevant NHS guidance into 60 languages.

Communication tips and BSL interpreters are available for supporting people with hearing loss to access general practice services
interpretation - migrant health guide