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Independent Practitioner Today: High-tech Future

Today’s IP - Tomorrow’s World

Remote working, virtual receptionists and wireless practice management systems may sound futuristic, but for one London GP practice, technology is the key to better organisation and higher profits

“IT is what I live on,” says Hayley Geurts, IT and business processes consultant for JDoc, an out of hours private GP service based in Hendon, North London. This thriving practice, open 365 days a year from 8am until midnight, has embraced inventive IT solutions to totally transform the way the business works.

Hayley Geurts was first brought in to revamp the JDoc website in summer 2008, but she quickly found there were other areas of the practice which could be revolutionised by a joined up attitude to new technology.

The JDoc partners, Dr Walter Abelman and Dr Chi Chung, charged Geurts with streamlining the way in which the practice operated and Geurts praises them for their open attitude to change.

“With four full-time staff as well as a rota of doctors out on the road, we had to harness technology and make it work to our advantage,” she says.

Geurts began by installing a sophisticated virtual reception service. Patients phone an 0800 number which is redirected to a system called X-on (spelling, web address?), giving callers the option to go through to admin or speak to a doctor.

“Those who want to talk to a doctor are put through to a call centre where they can always speak to an actual human being, something which is absolutely crucial,” explains Geurts.

The call centre is Jam, a leading 24 hour telephone answering service based in Borehamwood (www.jam.co.uk). “Having a reliable and efficient call centre is essential to our business,” she comments, “we can contact them at any time if we need to, and change any aspect of the service such as the script.”

Geurts feels that building a relationship with this type of provider is key, as once you have trust in the organisation’s high standards you can utilise their other services such as outbound calls.

A caller’s message for JDoc is then sent by the Jam system to whichever doctor is on call – the admin staff can access a backend system to setup the diary up accordingly -  and crucially, each message is also emailed to the team who can keep track of what’s happening and see each call that comes in. In addition the JDoc website allows patients to send enquiries through a web contact form.

The use of mobile technology doesn’t end here: the on-call doctor uses their mobile phone to contact the patient back and make an appointment, and takes their laptop to the appointment for patient records access and note-taking.

Geurts explains: “Each doctor has a mini laptop which they take on their rounds, this coupled with T-mobile internet access means that during a consultation they can access the patient records through our online practice management package, then take the laptop home to type up any notes straight into the system.”

“All the practice’s patient information and schedules are now in the Med+DBase system,” explains Geurts, “and the amount of paper files we have is absolutely minimal. When paperwork does come in, it is scanned and saved within the system and the original is shredded. It’s simple but effective.”

This approach is very different from the previous system of Excel spreadsheets, used at the practice, which Geurts admits, “was not ideal: they do leave room for error and you can’t collate all information into one spreadsheet, then there’s the risk of deleting something...”

Geurts has left no stone unturned in her quest for efficiency: she ensures that all the practice’s invoices and payments are paid electronically where possible, keeping cheques to a minimum, has setup online banking for the practice, and deals with all invoice queries online through Med+DBase.

The average day in the life of the JDoc practice is heavily technology focussed. Email is the practice’s main form of communication, both externally and internally; phone calls are rarely required and even calls to the admin line come through as an email voicemail from the X-on call management system.

When practice staff return calls they use a company internet phone system which allows free calls to UK landlines, and patient payments are even taken using a mobile credit card machine which can be used at home or in the office.

Geurts currently visits the JDoc office once a week to clear the paper backlog –scanning, faxing and emailing it onto to other surgeries, staff or the accountant, but the partners have decided to improve profits by removing the bricks and mortar practice altogether, as all staff can work from home.

“Utilising the technology available means the business is practically paperless, and as everything is online, it is immediately available. Administration is made simpler, no more flicking through bits of paper trying to find the right form or letter – and staff don’t miss carrying loads of paperwork around,” Geurts enthuses.

She continues: “Over the last few months of working with all these services, I have seen real improvements that I wasn’t expecting, such as the lab results coming straight through into the database. I think that soon people will realise that technology is the only way to go and that it’s particularly useful for certain practices, especially a “floating” practice like JDoc where doctors are armed with just a laptop and a mobile to stay in touch with colleagues, patients and the online records.

And are there any downsides to this futuristic way of working? “We may live on IT, but as people we also thrive on camaraderie,” Geurts warns, “so we have to be careful of over-reliance on email, and make sure it doesn’t lead to an end to verbal communication or loss of the human touch.

We do this by trying to schedule in regular meetings and get-togethers for all the practice staff. But from an efficiency point of view, this way of working can’t be beaten.”