A MAJOR doctor’s surgery in Basingstoke is changing its appointment process from Monday, October 17.

Crown Heights Medical Centre, in a statement, said the way residents access to care at the surgery will be changing based on feedback from patients.

The centre’s Patient Access Administrators will collect summary information from telephone callers and the information will be passed to a Clinical Triage Team.

This team will then triage all patient requests, whether online or by telephone and they will offer the most appropriate appointment or service by taking into consideration any preferences callers may have.

The surgery added that it aims to triage all requests the same day if received before 4pm.

The medical centre, which already changed its appointment system once back in March 2020 as recommended by NHS England in response to the pandemic, said there are still challenges.

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A statement said: “We have found the focus of dealing with the workload on the day has enabled our clinicians to manage their appointment demand more efficiently, however, we recognise from patient feedback that there are challenges in obtaining an on-the-day appointment.

“We have also taken into account the thoughts across our team of the benefits and difficulties patients experience when booking an appointment.”

From Monday, October 17, the centre will be introducing eConsult for all telephone calls received requiring clinical input.

The changes mean that the need to call at 8 in the morning to secure an appointment will be removed, as all requests for clinical contact will be triaged throughout the day.

The statement said the surgery’s objective is to re-instate the on-the-day/pre-bookable service the surgery previously employed.

Although priority cases will be appointed immediately, patients with less urgent clinical concerns may have to wait for a couple of weeks.

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The surgery is also aiming to optimise the use of GP time. The triage team will redirect some of the cases to other clinical professionals.

Crown Heights Medical Centre said it will be monitoring the impact of these changes over the coming weeks and will advise if any further revisions are required.