What is Clinical Triage?
Clinical triage is a way of handling requests for same-day appointments.
Principles:
- When a patient calls a practice they get through the first time
- Patients get help over the phone from their doctor so they don’t always need to come into the practice
- Patients get booked into an appointment on the day if they need one
- Patients receive the right care at the right place and at the right time
Outcomes for the patient:
- Provide alternative face-to-face consults
- Free-up doctor time for patients that NEED to see a doctor
- Ensure patients are seeing the right person
- Manage workflow more efficiently
- Avoid unnecessary visits to the practice
- Increase patient satisfaction
- Increase capacity for routine, preventative and proactive care for those with complex needs
What are the benefits of Clinical Triage?
- We value the patient’s time
- We provide other options for access to care
- We are enabling patient choice
- We will improve business efficiency
- We will increase the capacity to cope with acute demand
We will free up time for proactive and planned care
Click here to download Health Care Home clinical triage resource pack
Supporting resources
Call Handler Script – same day appointment
Call Handler Script non-same-day appointments
Clinical Triage – patient charges
Health Care Home Same day appointment daily demand collection template