Making online access simpler for patients
When Abbey-Dale Medical Centre in Blackpool took part in the General Practice Improvement Programme (GPIP), one of their first tasks was to review the practice website for accessibility. The audit involved practice manager Sue Poole working with her GPIP trainer to review how easy it was for patients to use the website.
“The accessibility checklists that we’d used previously were not very extensive and this was a much more rigorous process, said Sue. We realised we’d been ticking off our website as being compliant when it absolutely was not.”
The decision was made to find a new website provider who could help the practice comply with new NHS guidelines on creating a highly usable and accessible GP website. Choosing a provider with a deep understanding of the compliance requirements and general practice workflow processes were essential considerations.
After a review of the options and discussions with local practices, GPsurgery.net was chosen to build the new website.
Beating the 8am rush
The primary aim of taking part in the GPIP was to reduce the number of telephone calls coming into the practice. “It’s getting rid of that eight o’clock rush on the phones,” explained Sue Poole. “We needed the website to enable integration with Accurx to allow patients to book appointments online and improve communications between patients and their healthcare professionals.
“We also wanted to promote the NHS App to encourage patients to complete other online tasks like ordering repeat prescriptions and viewing their test results. If our patients are using the website to engage with us then hopefully this will reduce call volumes.”
The NHS App is clearly flagged on the website home page, together with a button guiding new patients to the NHS online registration service, further reducing the administration burden for the practice team.
Part of the NHS family
The design of the website follows the NHS identity and design guidelines, providing patients with a consistent look and feel across their interactions with NHS primary care. “The look of the website fits in well with the NHS App,” said Sue Poole. “It all feels like it’s flowing through and is just so clean and user friendly.” Photography, together with news stories and alerts provide a personal touch, unique to the practice.
An engagement campaign aiming to promote the website and increase the number of online interactions is planned for the coming months. “We’ve definitely achieved our first goal, which was to make the website more accessible for patients to be able to contact us,” said Sue Poole. “Our next priority is boosting the number of patients using the website and monitoring the impact this has on call volumes.”
The GPsurgery.net team built the new Abbey-Dale Medical Centre website on Navigator, a recently introduced service offering the highest standards of usability and accessibility for patients. Millie Green, onboarding specialist at GPsurgery.net, said: “It was a pleasure working with Sue Poole to get Abbey-Dale’s new website up and running. We hope Navigator is already making things simpler for their patients, healthcare professionals and practice team!”
