As a surgery we implemented this in January 2020 to ensure we could provide effective and safe care for all our patients. Prior to this, we were operating a system where patients phoned for appointments, and once these were all booked you had to try again at a later date or wait for the doctor to look at your request. This often led to a rush on the phones and a “first come first served approach” rather than one based on clinical need.

With triage control, a clinician will triage ALL requests received from 8am until the surgery reaches clinical capacity (unless for unforeseen circumstances our staffing is reduced) and take action as below.

 

Contact with the surgery

You can contact us from 8am on our usual phone lines or via the patient questionnaire online. Our Patient Navigators are trained to take some basic information which will help the clinician decide what to do next. The possible outcomes are:

1. Clinician decides that there is enough information to make a diagnosis and provide advice or prescription
2. Clinician decides that this is a condition that needs a phone or face to face review
3. Clinician decides that further information is needed to make a decision. You will then either be phoned back by a Patient Navigator with the clinician’s questions, or contacted directly by the clinician via text message.

Please note all our Patient Navigators are trained in using our system, but they do NOT make any clinical decisions. These will always be made by a clinician (either one of our GPs or Advanced Nurse Practitioners).

 

Why are the Patient Navigators asking me further questions?

They will only ask further questions if:

1. a) Either the clinician has asked them to help the process above, or
2. b) As part of a “template” for some common conditions which will help the doctor further.

All the information you give them is kept confidential and only shared with the clinician. We ask that you are polite and co-operative to them so that they can get the information needed to help you.

 

Is this due to COVID-19?

No, this process was started before the onset of COVID-19. It has, however, meant we can manage patients’ needs more safely and appropriately remotely. We are constantly reviewing our needed numbers of face-to face and telephone appointments.

 

Why do I have to phone from 8.00am?

This means we can manage your request on the same day; we ask that you only phone after midday for urgent medical problems.  Calls concerning results, nurse appointments, medication reviews or referral queries should also be made to the surgery after 11.00am, preferably in the afternoon.

 

Why can’t I just see my doctor?

There has been increasing demand for GP services across the UK over the last few years and this is not unique to our surgery. We will always make sure an appropriate review is arranged where there is a clinical need, and appreciate this might be different to how we have worked before and what patients are used to. Please be assured the doctors and other clinical staff are still here and triaging all of your requests to ensure we can give you the best possible clinical care.

 

Other ways of communicating with the surgery

The surgery does encourage the use of our dedicated website, where you can access a variety of services, including prescriptions, online forms, health advice & wellbeing and online services to name a few:

https://greenviewsurgery.co.uk

Contact No. 01604 791002

Facebook - Greenview Surgery

We ask that you do not use the surgery email address for prescription related enquires or requests, appointment or home visit requests, or general enquires that need a clinical input

Throughout the pandemic we have continue to provide a service to all our patients and those who have a clinical need have been seen by either our GP’s or Nurses.  

In addition to our general day to day clinical services we provided weekend Covid- 19 clinics from December 2020 - June 2021 and are now running Covid-19 and flu clinics throughout the autumn and winter.

 

Your cooperation and support through this difficult period for us all would be very much appreciated.

 

The Partners

Greenview Surgery

Due to a car crashing into the front of the surgery, the building remains closed. We are still operating and you can contact us in the usual way; through the online triage form or by telephone on 01604 791002. 

Thank you for your understanding.

For the time being there will be no changes here at the practice. Patients coming to the surgery will still need to wear a mask, use the hand sanitiser, and socially distance. Our staff will continue to wear appropriate PPE and all enquiries will be dealt with from the window.

 

We have made this decision as often patients coming to the surgery are sick, vulnerable and maybe unvaccinated due to medical reasons, so we feel that these precautions will help to protect everyone.  We also need to minimise the number of our staff catching Covid so we can keep a functioning service, so for this reason alone these measures are vital.

 

Our consultations will continue; these might be offered as face to face, by phone or by video. It is worth noting that we are consulting with higher numbers of patients than we ever did before the pandemic, while also playing a big part in the vaccination programme too. Our doors are open but just in a different way.

 

We hope you will understand why we need to continue with these measures and keep the surgery as safe for everyone as we can.  We have all come so far in trying to minimise the impact of Covid, let’s continue to stay safe together.

 

Thank you

Support for those Living with Breast Cancer

 

Breast Friends Northamptonshire is a peer-to-peer support group for those with a diagnosis of breast cancer or those undergoing breast cancer treatment. Despite lock measures, they are still able to run online events, from keep fit sessions, to book club and even bedtime stories!

 

See upcoming events and learn how to join at https://breastfriendsnorthampton.org/our-events

Do you have a teen who is struggling with their wellbeing?

 

The last 18 months has been tough for young people.

 

We highly recommend the Feeling Good Teens app which is FREE to download. Use the username and password nthteen to unlock all content.