Enhancing GP Practice Workflows with AI-Powered Triage

In today's rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, leveraging Artificial Intelligence to triage patients has become a pivotal innovation. AI algorithms have the potential to streamline processes, ensuring patients receive timely and accurate assessments without needing to speak to a member of staff first.

This blog aims to explore the importance and benefits of integrating AI into patient triage, demonstrating how this technology can enhance efficiency while maintaining a patient-first approach to healthcare.

Why is triaging in General Practicesimportant?

An article by NHS Englandexplains the importance of triage, saying: 'Triage means understanding what kind of support is necessary; how quickly this should take place and who is best placed to manage the patient or request. Clinical triage can help practices to allocate healthcare services according to individual needs, ensuring everyone receives the care most suited for them.'

Triaging in GP practices is a crucial component of delivering effective primary care, ensuring that patients receive timely and appropriate care based on the urgency of their needs. By prioritising cases, triage enables doctors to allocate their time and resources effectively, focusing on those who require immediate attention first, and getting to the rest when they can.

How can AI help to triage?

PatchsAICare Navigatoris a new feature of the Patchs online consultation system, which harnesses the power of AI to direct patients to the most optimal channel of care. There are several modules that make up Care Navigator:

• Signpost AI functionality expertly guides patients to appropriate self-care options, NHS 111, or emergency services, reducing unnecessary consultations and empowering patients to make informed care decisions.
• Topic AI analyses patient requests to identify clinical topics. It engages patients with additional questions to gather more information, provide advice, or offer signpost messages, including self-booking appointment forms.
• Assign AI system efficiently directs requests needing clinical input to a 'Clinical' inbox, enabling healthcare professionals to concentrate on essential care while managing non-critical cases.
• Face-to-Face (F2F) AI identifies requests necessitating in-person consultations, ensuring GPs can book patients sooner, thereby improving satisfaction and adherence to treatment plans.
• Urgency AI is able to deduce whether a patient's request is urgent analysing responses to questions asked when raising a request through the Patchs system. The intuitive AI flags requests that require urgent attention, ensuring no critical cases slip through the cracks.

Urgency AI consistently evaluates what constitutes an urgent request, eliminating the variability that comes with human judgement.

Furthermore, as this can all be done online or through answering questions via the phone, the need to go through a receptionist is drastically reduced, improving the efficiency of practice operations and providing quicker access to care for those who need it most.

Conclusion

Patchs AI stands out as an indispensable tool for GPs looking to streamline the triage process of urgent requests. By leveraging artificial intelligence, it prioritises patient care efficiently and effectively, ensuring that urgent health concerns receive the prompt attention they demand.

Patchs AI Care Navigator has been designed with the GP's workflow in mind, offering a seamless integration that enhances decision-making and patient outcomes. By reducing administrative burdens, it allows healthcare providers to focus more on delivering exceptional care.

Visit the Patch's home pageto find out more and get in touch with a member of our team.