Welcome to Referral Flow
Referral Flow is an electronic solution from DLA which supports the streaming of minor ailment symptoms into NHS Pharmacy First. It usefully prompts surgery reception teams when qualifying minor ailment symptoms are mentioned by patients, whilst also alerting them when symptoms need to be seen by a practice clinician.
Benefits of Referral Flow
Practices can take advantage of additional same-day referral options which are extremely helpful when surgery is busy. Clinician appointment costs are deflected to the pharmacy ‘global sum’, whilst the practice itself will have fewer appointment slots to schedule and fund. This assists the practice to manage its workload whilst saving the practice the cost of providing a clinician appointment.
Patients benefit from having a same-day pharmacy consultation which will helpfully contribute towards practice 24-hour patient access objectives.
What is Referral Flow?
Referral Flow is a cutting-edge electronic streaming solution designed by DLA. We selected Silicon Practice to develop the application which has been integrated with existing Silicon Practice Footfall technology in the first instance. Referral Flow prompts and so optimises the streaming of patients with minor illnesses and certain common conditions into local pharmacies under the Pharmacy First scheme. As with all DLA solutions, the strategic intent is to leverage practice+pharmacy teamworking, in this case to alleviate pressure on surgery appointments and to improve patient access to primary care services.
Take Control of Practice Appointment Volumes
The average Practice in England now has 10,000 patients so every week a practice manager needs to find clinician capacity for around 700* appointments. Research has shown that around 18%** of these are for minor ailment conditions which could be attended to by a community pharmacist. This is a significant proportion, and it is somewhat higher since pharmacists can now treat a number of common clinical conditions like uncomplicated UTI and impetigo.
However, only a fraction of minor ailment symptoms are being identified and streamed to pharmacies. Whereas Referral Flow will helpfully alert receptionists and result in many more symptoms being deflected to pharmacies, thus optimising the practice time and resources saved.
* Br Journal General Practice, Jan 2016: Recommends practices provide a minimum of 70 GP appointments per week per 1000 patients (ie demand = 7% per week)
** Br Journal General Practice, July 2013 (13-18% routine GP appointments referable)
Releasing Commercial Benefits for Practices (& Pharmacies)
Commercial efficiencies improve when practice & pharmacy synergies are optimised. Apply this to capacity planning, every dozen or so appointments deflected to Pharmacy First is equivalent to a GP session saved. DLA is confident that Referral Flow can save an average practice a session per a day. This is very noticeable in terms of reduced pressure on clinical staff, resulting often in reduced requests for part-time GPs to work extra sessions, or as locum sessions avoided. And local pharmacies will also benefit from the extra referrals arising!
Click here to visit our Referral Flow website and learn more about how it supports practice receptions
Or contact us now to book a conversation and explore how Referral Flow can support your reception team whilst saving your practice money and improving access to patient care.