Enhancing Care or Sparking Chaos? Navigating the Shift to 25x 15-Minute Appointments

By Kirsty Morris

As Partners and Practice Managers in General Practice, you are no strangers to the evolving landscape of healthcare.

The BMA has recently issued a strong recommendation that practices should transition to 15-minute appointments. This includes no more than 25 appointments in a working day for Salaried GPs. This action should be taken immediately to implement this clinic structure. The aim of this change, is to improve the quality of patient care. However, it brings with it several pressing questions and challenges that we must address.

BMA’s Recommendation

The BMA’s recommendation for 15-minute appointments is rooted in the desire to enhance patient care. Longer appointments allow for more thorough consultations, better patient-doctor relationships, and more accurate diagnoses. This move aims to reduce the stress on healthcare professionals and improve overall patient satisfaction.

Sounds ideal!

However, one of the immediate concerns is how to manage increasing patient list sizes with a lower number of longer appointments. Having spoken to practices I London this week, here are some of the concerns:

Increased Waiting Times for Appointments:

• Longer wait times for non-urgent qppointments: Patients may experience longer waiting periods for non-urgent issues, which could lead to dissatisfaction and frustration.
• Difficulty in accessing immediate care: Patients accustomed to same-day or next-day appointments may struggle with the reduced availability, potentially leading to delayed care.

Pressure on Emergency Services:

• Increased use of emergency departments: As appointment availability decreases, patients might turn to emergency departments or urgent care centres for issues that could have been handled by their GP, leading to overburdened emergency services.

Patient Anxiety and Frustration:

• Anxiety over delayed care: Patients may feel anxious or concerned about the delays in receiving care, particularly those with chronic conditions who rely on regular check-ups and follow-ups.
• Perceived Neglect: Patients might perceive the reduced appointment availability as neglect or lack of concern from their healthcare providers, which can erode trust in the practice.

Potential Decrease in Patient Satisfaction:

• Ironically, even though the change aims of improve patient care, this could lead to overall decrease in patient satisfaction: The combination of longer wait times, difficulty accessing care, and perceived neglect could lead to a general decrease in patient satisfaction with the practice, resulting in an increase of complaints and in some cases, aggressive behaviour from patients.

Strain on Management and Reception Teams

• Increased pressure on non-clinical management and reception teams: An increase in patient frustration will put extra pressure on Practice Management and Reception teams.

Remedies for these challenges include the following.

Implementing robust triage systems. This helps to ensure that patients who need longer consultations are prioritized. Whilst those with minor issues can be managed more efficiently.

Utilizing digital health solutions. Leveraging telemedicine and digital health tools to help manage patient flow and reduce the burden on in-person consultations. Offering e-consultations and remote monitoring can be effective in handling routine follow-ups and minor health concerns.

And, of course, practices can expand the workforce both clinically and non-clinically.

Does this mean more funding is required to implement?

• What are your thoughts?
• Will you be looking to implement the change in your practice?
• What challenges will you face?
• And, are you in a position to remedy the challenges?

Let us know what you think! We would love to hear what you think. Contact us through our contact form here.