Hi Tim,
We have just implememented this with our female partner. We have looked in depth at appointments recently. It has always been my belief that if you take more than 10 minutes per appointment then it is madness working to a 10 minute interval. She was frequently running very late and always over-ran surgeries. Early days yet, but seems to be working well. She used to have catch-up blanks and quite a few double slots, but these have largely gone since she has had 15 minute appointments as she does have some consultations that do not use the full 15 minutes. The way that we try things like this is that we suck it and see, but remain adaptable to change back if it does not work. We never assume that something will deffinitely work. Why not pilot it with one partner??
Some may remember that I recently asked re ditching nurse triage of all telephone calls and the patients being asked if they want an appointment or can it be dealt with on the phone. Our NP was recently on holiday for 3 weeks, so we decided that we had nothing to loose by trialling it. It has worked like a treat!! So, back to you initial query, why not try it and see - but suggest that if you had blocks in surgeries and made use of double appointments, that part of the deal is that most of these should go. Also expand the surgery to an extent to comepensate for some lost appointments - they will still finish at the same time or even earlier - BUT patinets will not have been kept waiting and the clinician will not feel as 'frazzled'!!!
Best wishes
Paul Bromley
2009/7/2 TIM WALTER
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We are currently mulling over how to innovate in this changing world and
contemplating moving to routine 15min appts from 10min appointments. The
thought is that we could deal with problems comprehensively rather than
firefighting each appointment and overloading the system with FU appts.
Anyone done so and able to give feedback.
TIA
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Best Wishes
Paul Bromley
www.informatiks.com
Custom EMIS LV Software.
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