AQW 1492/17-22

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 04/02/2020
Answered On Date: 04/03/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health what proposals he has to modernise communication between patients and General Practices and hospitals, to improve the service for patients making appointments.

Answer:

As GP practices are independent contractors there are a variety of approaches taken to communicate with patients. GP Clinical Systems can now offer, 24/7 access to booking appointments, two-way messaging between clinicians & patients, and facilitate requests for repeat medications. Some practices only offer a subset of these services.

The Health & Social Care Board ran the “Ask My GP” pilot in 2018/19, providing a telephone triage model of pre appointment assessment prior to appointment booking. The Health & Social Care Board also approved grants for GP practices to upgrade GP telephone systems to provide patients with access to a menu of services.