Telephone Triage-What's the Point?

[zebo]

My surgery now only offers telephone triage, the doctor phones you, once you've spent ages phoning or visiting the reception desk, and will ask what's wrong. S/he'll then ask all the same questions again so notes can be up-dated, medication prescribed or, if necessary an appointment will be made.What's the point of this, it doesn't seem to cut down on the doctor's time.

[Maydup]

Oh...sigh...its ridiculous isn't it. Just imagine how many wasted calls they make when people either "just want a chat" or when people needed to go to the surgery anyway. Surely not worth it for the handful who can be diagnosed over the phone.

[Sqad]

Maidup

\\ Surely not worth it for the handful who can be diagnosed over the phone.\\\

I would guess that a rational diagnosis could be made in 90% of cases by telephone.

I was taught that if one hadn't made the diagnosis after talking to the patient, then examination of said patient would not significantly help in coming to a diagnosis.

To this day......I believe it.

[Eve]

I think it's great and have really benefitted from it.

Hopefully it cuts down on time taken by people not turning up for appointments or gettng an appointment which was not needed. For easy stuff it's great to be able to speak to someone and get advice or have a prescription ready and waiting for you to pick up or be booked in for tests first if needed rather than wasting an appointment to be told you need blood tests etc...

Thinks happen a lot quicker as you get the call on the day, rather than waiting for an appointment. I'd imagine it cuts down the waiting time too for appointments.

It's invaluable for me in that, especially with chronic conditions, it minimises the time I need to take off work, especially as I am two buses away from my doctors and have to take time out already for hospital appointments, tests, physio etc...

[wolf63]

I got a letter this morning asking me to go and see the doctor as it has been a while (couple of months) since I last visited. :-)

[boxtops]

Most surgeries round here don't want you to go to the desk or tell you their details, the nurse practitioner rings you back or the GP - then you are told whether you need to come in, or what.

The reason is that the reception staff aren't clinical, and triage decisions should only be made by a registered clinician. It's an excellent idea and cuts down on a lot of unnecessary appointments.

[zebo]

I understand a lot of the points being made, but it doesn't cut down the Doctor's time, as for the Receptionist making decisions, that should never have been the case, they're there to make appointments, not decisons. When we worked for MOD abroad, the first person you saw was a nurse and they then decided to pass you on to the Doctor or not and certainly when the children were young it was an excellent system.

[DaisyNonna]

In Britain is it a Human Right to see a doctor if you are ill? Convicted criminals seem to be able to do so.

[askyourgran]

My husband has had telephone consultations from our GP when he was unable to get an appointment. He was prescribed some tablets and the tablets were ready to be picked up at the local Pharmacy. Otherwise he would have had to sit and wait at the surgery for someone to see him. It isn't a matter of cutting down on the Doctors time, we are allowed 10 minutes. It is a matter of giving patients a chance to speak to a doctor about a problem one way or another, if there is no appointment to be had that day.