To contact your GP, either to request an appointment, sick note or for medical advice please submit a Patchs request.
Patchs. Contact your GP online. Answer a few simple questions and PATCHS will get you help quickly. Health advice, fit notes, and more.
What is Patchs?
How does the process work?
Why are my surgery using Patchs and total triage?
Can I book an appointment for my child, family member or someone I care for?
I am unable to complete the online form as I am not confident/able to use a computer or smart phone, how can I access help from the surgery?
Where can I get more information?
What is Patchs?
Patchs is an online consultation tool which allows you to send messages directly to your GP. It will ask you a few simple questions to gain information so we can establish what help you need.
How does the process work?
We use a total triage system at Mansfield Medical Centre. Once your query has been submitted it will be assessed by one of our GPs. We will use the information supplied to decide if an appointment is required, and if so, which healthcare professional would be best placed to help you. Many requests can be managed by the triaging GP without the need for an appointment. You will be contacted following your initial request either for more information, to inform you of the outcome of your request e.g., a prescription or fit note issued, or to arrange an appointment.
We now have multiple healthcare professionals working at the practice. We aim to get patients to see the most appropriate medical professional for their individual issue. This may be a GP, Paramedic, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Practice Nurse, Healthcare Assistant, Pharmacist or Physiotherapist.
We attempt to manage as many requests as possible the same day, so if you are submitting a request, please be prepared to be available to come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment if required, or to receive a telephone consultation. Please ensure you have your phone to hand on the day you submit a request so we can contact you. If you will not be available, please consider submitting your request at a different time.
Why are my surgery using Patchs and total triage?
As you are no doubt aware GP Surgeries have been facing escalating demand for appointments in recent years, and that burden of workload has increased significantly as a result of hospital waiting lists being at an all time high. The traditional model of GP appointment booking, with a telephone call or walk in to speak to a receptionist who then books an appointment directly, is no longer able to meet this demand. You will, I’m sure, have experienced the 8am rush to try and book an appointment, with long waits on the phone and often patients being told that “all the appointments for the day have now gone, please call back tomorrow morning”. That traditional system prioritises patients who are able to call at exactly 8am or walk in to the surgery when the doors open, rather than being one that prioritises urgent requests. As a practice we feel this system is no longer viable, it unfairly disadvantages some patients, and people frequently expressed dissatisfaction with the old system.
The total triage system we have introduced aims to provide equitable access to all our patients. The majority of patients are able to fill in on online form, which is much more convenient than calling, and this has the effect of freeing up the phone lines and receptionist time for those unable to do so. In addition, people who feel they need to walk in to submit a request face to face can still do this. Our total triage system is open for 8 hours in the day, this means that people have plenty of time to submit a request if the feel they need an appointment that day, and if it is something more routine they are not required to compete in the 8am rush with everyone who wants/needs an urgent appointment.
By using the same triaging system to process all of our requests this means that our duty GPs receive all of the requests into one inbox each day, the artificial intelligence within Patchs helps to highlight which requests are more urgent so these are brought to our attention more quickly. By using highly trained and experienced GPs, rather than administrative staff, to triage every request we can maximise the efficiency of the system. Many requests submitted do not require an appointment and can be managed by the triaging GP or delegated to appropriate another member of staff, e.g. prescription clerk, secretary or pharmacist. Those that do require an appointment can be dealt with on the basis of clinical need rather than on a first come first served basis as was the case previously. Since introducing the new triage system over 99% of our requests have been responded to and actioned on the same day, whether that is via a phone call from a doctor, appointment offered, medical advice given or prescription issued.
Patchs is an online consultation system that was developed by Dr Ben Brown at The University of Manchester, in partnership with Advanced and Spectra Analytics (Now Patchs Health). Their aim is to help GP practices to make better triage decisions to improve patient outcomes. Patchs is a product approved by the NHS and is used widely across the UK. It is GDPR compliant and meets strict security and privacy standards including the NHS Data and security Protection Toolkit and Cyber Essentials+. The GP Practice remains the data controller in respect of any personal data collected by Patchs Health. Advanced will be the processor, and Patchs Health will be a sub-processor to Advanced under the Data Protection Legislation.
We listened to feedback from our patients around the issues with getting an appointment at the surgery and difficulty getting through on the phone and decided we needed to find a way to do things differently. This decision was not rushed and took months of hard work, research and preparation to get the service up and running. We feel as a practice that making this change was in the interests of our patients, to allow us to try and provide the best service to you that we possibly can.
Can I book an appointment for my child, family member or someone I care for?
Yes, you can submit a proxy request on behalf of someone you care for:
Contacting your GP for Someone Else – PATCHS Support
Adding and editing people you care for – PATCHS Support
I am unable to complete the online form as I am not confident/able to use a computer or smart phone, how can I access help from the surgery?
The PATCHS portal is designed to be easy for patients to use, and more convenient than calling on the phone. However, we recognise that some people may not be able to do this either because they find computers difficult to use, or because of a disability.
For these people you can still contact the surgery via telephone and either use the dedicated Patchs telephone assistant (option 1) or alternatively a receptionist can assist in completing the Patchs request form for you.
We hope that over time, once the vast majority of people are completing the requests online, this should reduce phone waiting times for those people unable to do this.
Where can I get more information?
The PATCHS help/support portal has lots of information including FAQs to help you if you are having any problems or want to know more.
Patients – PATCHS Support