IMPORTANT CHANGES TO HOW YOU CONTACT THE PRACTICE

We wish to share some important news about a significant change to our appointment system that will improve the way our surgery delivers care to all our patients.

GP practices across the Lancashire are moving to a ‘Modern General Practice’ model to make access to care and treatment easier for patients and help improve patient satisfaction. This is a contractual requirement, and all general practices must adopt the system by October 2025.

From the 13 October 2025 we are moving to a Total Triage model.

What is Total Triage?

Total triage is a General Practice workflow where every patient contacting a practice first provides some information on the reasons for contact and is reviewed before making an appointment.

All patient requests will be triaged by one of our experienced GPs who will decide what the best course of action is. Where necessary, we might ask you to answer a few additional questions to help our doctor prioritise those patients who need more urgent care.

You could be given a face to face or telephone appointment, you could have a reply from the GP with self-care advice, or you could be signposted to a more appropriate service.

We will have three types of appointments:

• Same day – for urgent appointments (A member of staff will contact you to book the appointment)
• Within 7 days – for patients that need to see or speak to a healthcare professional soon, but not urgently (You will be contacted by the surgery)
• More than 7 days – for routine appointments (You will be contacted by the surgery)

The main purpose of the Total Triage model is to:

• Fair access for all patients
• enhance the quality of care our patients receive 
• ensure they are given the most appropriate appointment or advice to meet their needs
• communicate with patients in a timely way

How does it work?

All patients need to submit their request via the surgery’s website or via the NHS App (under services).

Ideally, patients will submit their own request.  However, we appreciate that this may not be possible for some patients. If you are unable to use or access the online form, then please contact the surgery in the usual way and we will assist you. 

The GP will review your request.  You will either receive a call to be offered a same day appointment, or you might receive a message with advice from the GP.

Please note that for the GP to review your request in a timely manner it is very important to provide detailed and accurate information about your symptoms.

For example, if a patient has a cough, it would be much easier for the GP to triage the request with the following information: ‘I had a cough for 10 days. I have already used over the counter medicine, but it is not helping and in the last couple of days my cough has been worsening, and it feels worse. I also have a high temperature.’

If the information given is less detailed, such as ‘I had a cough for 10 days’, it makes it harder for the GP to triage, and we will need more information.

The Total Triage service will be open Monday to Friday 8.00 am – 6.30 pm.

During the weekend or bank holidays please continue to use the 111 service or call 999 for life threatening emergencies.

Please note that at times we may temporarily suspend the online triage form to help manage the demand. In these circumstances you will see the following:

• a message to advise that the Patient Triage is temporarily unavailable and information on when the link will be active again and how to contact the practice another way
• a message prompting patients to use NHS 111 online, to find a local pharmacy or attend the Urgent Treatment Centre

How does this benefit you?

We know that change can be difficult sometimes, but we are assured that Total Triage will bring many benefits to our patients – for example:

• Total Triage has been shown to reduce waiting times, and it enables us to attend to your medical needs more promptly.
• Using digital communication will mean that you can engage with us from the comfort of your home or workplace.
• Triage ensures that limited healthcare resources are allocated to patients who need them most urgently.
• Total Triage will address the increasing demand for appointments and reduce the frustration of having to call and be in a long queue at 8am.

If you have any questions or concerns our team is here to guide and support you.

Thank you for supporting us with this new project.

Sincerely,

The Padiham Surgery Team