GP practices across the NHS are facing unprecedented pressure. Rising patient demand, administrative burdens, and the need for greater efficiency are constant challenges. How can practices streamline workflows, ensure patients get the right care promptly, and improve both staff and patient satisfaction?

We spoke with Kellie Dennis, Digital Transformation Lead for South End East PCN, about her experience implementing Anima across their practices, including the merged Thorpe Bay & North Shoebury Surgery (a practice serving 16,500 patients). Kellie shared insights into the challenges they faced and the significant improvements Anima brought.

The Challenge: Bottlenecks and Inefficient Patient Flow

Before implementing Anima, Kellie's practices faced common challenges that many NHS surgeries will recognise:

"We were getting queued at the doors at eight o'clock. The phones were going nuts at eight o'clock... and by 9:30 the phones were 'Sorry, phone back tomorrow. We have no appointments left or try after two and you'll see if anyone's cancelled for emergency.'" 

This bottleneck created an inequitable system where the "loudest" patients often secured appointments first. They recognised the need for a change to manage demand more effectively and ensure clinical priority was guiding care.

The Solution: Implementing Total Triage with Anima

A key insight from Kellie's implementation was adopting total triage rather than just digital triage:

"I personally don't use the word digital triage. I actually use the words total triage. So it's not just the patients that have digital access. It's for patients that can, any patients contacting the surgery. They go through the same funnel.”

This approach ensures all requests, whether online, via phone, or walk-in, are assessed centrally, allowing clinicians to prioritize effectively.   

The Measurable Success

1. Significant Shift Online: In January, out of 4,040 total patient contacts 3,355 (83%) submitted their triage request online through Anima. Dramatically reducing the burden on phone lines and front desks, with just a remaining 685 were handled via phone or face-to-face across two branches.

2. Reduced Unnecessary Appointments: A staggering 1,647 patient requests (over 40% of the total for January) were resolved without needing a formal appointment. This included prescription requests, admin tasks, and clinical issues resolved through Anima's messaging or redirection. For example, rashes could often be assessed via photo uploads.   

Graph showcasing 83% of patient requests triaged online via Anima and of that 40% were resolved without needing a formal appointment.

3. Improved Clinician Efficiency: Concerns about clinician time spent triaging were addressed directly. Kellie states: "I don't look as time lost. I actually think it's time gained back". She explained that the most proficient clinicians could handle 25 Anima triages per hour, compared to seeing only 6 patients in clinic appointments during that same hour. The detailed information gathered by Anima upfront allows for quicker, more informed decisions.   

4. Effective Patient Redirection: Anima automatically redirects patients unsuitable for GP care. In January alone, 148 patients were redirected to more appropriate services like A&E or community care before their request even hit the practice dashboard. Prior to Anima, these patients would be losing valuable time by waiting on the phone to get through to a receptionist at the clinic. With Anima's new Pharmacy First integration, we expect this to improve further.

5. Enhanced Appointment Availability: Counterintuitively, implementing Anima and moving to core-hour access (8 am - 6:30 pm) increased same-day appointment availability compared to before. Data comparing specific weeks showed significantly more same-day GP bookings post-Anima, even accounting for triage time. Kellie strongly advised against restricting Anima's opening hours, finding that initial surges calmed down and became manageable, preventing the rolling backlog created by limited access. 

6. Data-Driven Service Improvement: Anima's data provides valuable insights. It helped identify frequent attenders for proactive support, and highlighted trends (like skin conditions or MSK issues) that led to the PCN developing targeted clinics. 

7. Streamlined Document Processing: One practice processing 20,000 documents in six months using just one staff member. 

Appointment Capacity Concerns

Addressing partner concerns about capacity, Kellie shared an anecdote: before launching Anima, she asked GPs to tally appointments that could have been avoided or handled differently and an astonishing 70 appointments were mis-booked as urgent same-day. Anima helped them regain control, ensuring clinician time was used most effectively. As another participant noted, often the issue isn't a lack of capacity, but that practices have "lost control of their appointment book" to inappropriate bookings.  

Perhaps most surprising was the impact on GP appointment availability. Contrary to fears that appointment capacity would decrease, Kellie reported:

"I can still say actually, I've got more same day booking now than I did in 2023 [before Anima] by a lot." 

The data demonstrated that even with triage in place, the practice was able to offer more same-day appointments than before implementation, directly addressing access concerns.

Graph showcasing 224% increase in total GP appointments and 380% increase in same day bookings after implementing Anima.

Patient Engagement and Education

Implementing any new system requires patient education. Kellie commented on the recent patient engagement events:

"The one we had two weeks ago, 250 patients turned up and we were just doing hourly talks on Anima, showing them how the patients triage, signing them up there and then, giving them little cheat sheets." 

Another practice preparing for go-live had 500 patients attend their information day. This proactive approach to patient education proved invaluable in securing buy-in and reducing resistance to change. To further improve accessibility, Anima has recently released accountless access which allows patients to submit requests, review care plans, and book appointments without needing to create a full account but rather answering a security question.

Final Remarks

Kellie's experience implementing Anima across multiple practices offers valuable insights for any primary care team considering similar solutions. The data speaks for itself: substantial increases in efficiency, improved patient flow, significant time savings in document processing, and better utilisation of clinical time. Total triage helps practices regain control and focus on providing high-quality care.