Ambulance call handlers could be deployed to ease the 8am rush for appointments faced by GP practices across the country.
A pilot currently being trialled in London believes that using the call handlers to help operations could save 725,000 emergency department visits a year in London alone, saving the NHS millions.
This is because frustrated patients often go to the emergency room out of desperation as they have difficulty getting an appointment with their doctor.
The new plan is being trialled by Wide Way Medical Center in South London after staff came up with an innovative way to get calls answered.
Staff needed a solution after having to deal with around 500 calls on a normal Monday – something they said would be almost impossible.
Under the new scheme, 80 per cent of patients calling the GP practice for a same-day appointment would be diverted to a hub of 20 London Ambulance Service call handlers. They will be stationed 15 miles away.
The team, the GP Support Service, records symptoms and, if necessary, books patients for an appointment at the practice, or refers them to a pharmacy or sends an ambulance.
The system would operate between 8am and 1pm on weekdays, more than doubling the GP practice's ability to answer calls. reports The Times.
Julie Schultzers, chief receptionist at Wide Way Medical Center, said: 'Previously some patients would wait on hold for half an hour before they could get through.
“It was very stressful and busy, patients became upset. Now the average time to answer the phone is less than five minutes. It has made a huge difference.”
The program was first launched in East Merton in October but is now being scaled up to other GP practices.
Dr. Johra Alam, clinical director for emergency care at the London Ambulance Service, said it made sense to integrate the existing “telephony infrastructure”.
She added: “Scaling up this model would have a huge impact on emergency care. If patients don't currently have access to their GP, they will go elsewhere in the system – the pressure spills over into A&E.”
The partnership has reportedly already saved one life.
In one case, an 83-year-old man with a case of diabetes called the practice during a busy period and was transferred to the ambulance call handlers.
Staff saw “red flags” and an ambulance was dispatched. Previously, the man would have been on hold for a maximum of one hour.