Management and Support

Support Services

Our patient services are supported by a central team consisting of management, administration, digital and project support. Working in partnership with GP Practices the team work to continuously improve our offer to patients in Lytham St Annes. 

 

Our Digital Plans 

Online services are a part of daily life for millions of people accessing core services such as banking, insurance and shopping digitally. GP Practices have been using electronic patient records for many years and using technology will enable us to improve our care pathways to better meet the needs of our patients. 

Our aim:

Our patients will be at the heart of their own care, provided with the information, tools and resources to make informed decisions about their own health and wellbeing.

Some of our successes have been: 

  • refreshing GP practice websites to make them easier to navigate for patients 
  • easier access to specialist care home teams by introducing a single telephone line for staff working in care homes 
  • introducing health monitors in each of our GP practice locations which are free to use and allow patients to monitor their weight and blood pressure 
  • taking part in an NHS England programme that allows our Practices to learn and implement Quality Improvement techniques to improve patient access 

Introduction of online services 

NHS England have asked GP Practices to offer more services online to improve access for patients. All 5 GP Practices in Lytham St Annes will be introducing online services over the coming months and have decided to use the same IT system called Patchs. Making a request online will allow you to contact your practice at a convenient time for you. Requests made online will be quick to submit and no need to wait in a telephone queue as the website will be able to serve many patients at the same time. 

By routing the majority of requests online, there will be fewer people telephoning the practice at 8am. Fewer people in the telephone queue means less time waiting for the phone to be answered. All requests received, whether online or by phone, will be triaged by a clinician and action taken according to clinical need.  

Some patients prefer to make written requests due to hearing difficulties or language barriers. Patchs has the ability to make requests in 33 different languages which are then translated for the Practice to triage, the response can be returned to the patient in their chosen language.  
Being able to make a request in a more relaxed environment may help you to tell us more information about your request therefore helping Practices to get you to the right place first time.  

Reducing the 8am telephone rush will reduce pressure our staff taking phone calls and allow them to take more time for patients who need to use the telephone.