Medicus Has Listened To You!
Thank you for all your support and feedback during this difficult time. Although we are in the midst of COVID Vaccination, the most challenging programme that General Practice has ever delivered, we wanted to update you on our actions around the concerns you have expressed on our use of Online Consultation.
As you may know, all practices were encouraged by our commissioners to use the eConsult online consultation software during the pandemic, and we fully embraced the change by seeing the greatest uptake in London. Although we have seen some benefits for patients, the feedback has been largely negative, flagging the difficulty in completing the online forms, lack of language support and the difficulties around digital exclusion. At Medicus, we have learned a lot from this experience and the significant impact it has had on an organisation already stretched during the pandemic, forcing us to restrict access during the day so we could better manage proactive care for our vulnerable patients. The is not a satisfactory position, neither for us nor our patients, and we have explored ways to improve the status quo.
It is quite clear that there is no ideal technological solution out there yet, but we believe that we have found a software that addresses the problems we have both identified. We are also excited that the team behind this new product will be working more closely with us to evolve their offer, shaping it further with your feedback. To this end, we will be implementing PATCHS on the 15th of February and you will be able to register and access this through the branch site weblinks within our main website. Here is a link to a guide on how to use this new tool. eConsult will be decommissioned from 11am Friday the 12th of February, and you will no longer be able to submit any requests after this time.
Once again, we appreciate your patience and support in trialling this new product and look forward to your feedback once we have had a chance to embed it properly.
Keep safe and keep well!
