Total Triage, introduced by Strategic Command's Defence Medical
Services, has been adopted by Defence medical centres and is
designed to reduce unnecessary face-to-face appointments and
enable greater and quicker access to medical care for those in
need. One of the first centres to use it has seen a 90% reduction
in such doctor appointments, with 70% of all enquiries handled at
first point of contact and leading to greater patient and staff
satisfaction.
The new system completed its national rollout at 105 Defence
Primary Healthcare medical centres across the UK earlier this
year. In addition, Total Triage hubs have now been established at
35 Defence medical centres with a further 13 neighbouring centres
permanently using the hubs by local agreement.
Under the new arrangements patients submit a request through the
online form, or phone the medical centre where the request is
triaged and allocated to a suitable qualified clinician within
the multi-disciplinary team. The patient should receive a call
back within 24 working hours by a medical professional to be
given medical advice or alternatively referred to either a
face-to-face appointment or remote consultation with a
specialist. This ensures the patient gets to see the right
healthcare worker at the right time.
Flight Sergeant Chris Workman MBE, Project Lead for Total
Triage, said:
The health and welfare of our patients is our top priority, and
the introduction of Total Triage is already seeing positive
results in healthcare outcomes. Patients have reported positive
feedback regarding the ease of submitting their request alongside
the speedy delivery of their clinical outcome with some 4 week
waiting lists being reduced to zero days.
Equally, staff are experiencing a boost as the Total Triage team
have enjoyed a wider range of patient consultations, developed a
distinct sense of camaraderie and a renewed pride in the delivery
of joint healthcare for our patients.
This is based the innovative system used by NHS GP practices
during the COVID19 pandemic, to ensure people could still receive
medical advice when in person appointments were not possible. The
concept was then adapted by the Defence Medical Services for use
at medical centres, reducing unnecessary travel by patients as
well as improving resilience across the regions as medical
centres work collaboratively to improve patient outcomes. This
has resulted in a reduced amount of appointment booking calls in
the morning which lowers the pressure on reception staff and
enables quicker patient treatment.
Director Defence Healthcare, Air Vice Marshal Dave
McLoughlin, said:
The implementation of Total Triage has been a game changer for
Defence Primary Healthcare. It has resulted in an overall
reduction in waiting times for doctor and nurse appointments by
nearly a third. This ensures that the right patient sees the
right healthcare worker at the right time.
Providing safe and effective healthcare to the Armed Forces
population is a priority for Defence. Witnessing the dedication
of the teams delivering this initiative at scale and at pace,
alongside the reports of high levels of patient and staff
satisfaction is remarkable and inspiring. My sincere thanks to
everyone who has worked hard to implement Total Triage.
This is part of wider programme of primary healthcare
improvements set up by the Defence Medical Services to identify
and deliver better healthcare to Armed Forces personnel,
including the introduction of SMS appointment reminders and
combining practices to increase access to medical services and
resources.
