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Hassengate Medical Centre
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Non-urgent advice: Call Recording Policy
All calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes
The purpose of call recording is to:
- Protect practice staff from nuisance or abusive calls.
- Identify any issues in practice processes with a view to improving them.
- Support clinicians with a record of telephone consultations.
Patients who wish to opt out of call recording will be asked to come to the practice and speak in person.
Total Triage
We wish to share some very exciting news about a significant change to our appointment system that will improve the way our surgery delivers care to all our patients.
GP practices across Thurrock are moving to a ‘Modern General Practice’ model to make access to care and treatment easier for patients and help improve patient satisfaction.
From Thursday 20th March 2025 we are moving to a Total triage model
What is Total Triage?
Total triage is a General Practice workflow system where every patient contacting a practice first provides some information on the reason for their contact and this information is triaged before an appointment is offered.
After the 20th March all patient requests will be triaged by one of our experienced GPs who will decide what the best course of action is. Where necessary, we might ask you to answer a few additional questions to help our team prioritise those patients who need more urgent care.
You may be offered a face to face or telephone appointment; you may receive a reply from the GP with self-care advice or you may be signposted to a more appropriate service. Following any outcome, we will always try to make sure you know what to do if you believe your problem to be more urgent or should your symptoms worsen.
We will have three types of appointments:
- Same day – for an urgent issue (A member of staff will contact you to book the appointment via telephone or text.)
- Within 7 days – for patients that need to see or speak to a healthcare professional soon, but not urgently (You will receive a self-book link to book your appointment.)
- More than 7 days – for routine appointments (You will receive a self-book link to book your appointment)
The main purpose of the Total Triage model is to:
- Enhance the quality of care our patients receive.
- Ensure they are given the most appropriate appointment or advice to meet their needs.
- Communicate with patients in a timely way.
How does it work?
All patients will need to submit their request via the surgery’s website or using the NHS app. Ideally, patients will submit their own request, however we appreciate that this may not be possible for some patients. If you are unable to use or access the online form, then please contact the surgery in the usual way or attend reception and we will complete the request with you. This will be triaged by a GP the same way as any other forms.
After the GP has reviewed your request, you will either receive a call or text to be offered a same day appointment, receive a self-book link to make an appointment or you might receive a message with advice from the GP.
Please note that for the GP to triage your request in a timely manner it is very important to provide detailed and accurate information about your symptoms.
For example, if you have a cough, it would be much easier for the GP to triage the request with the following information: ‘I’ve had a cough for 10 days. I have already used over the counter medicine, but it is not helping and in the last couple of days my cough has been worsening and it feels chestier. I also have a high temperature.’
If the information given is less detailed, such as ‘I had a cough for 10 days’, it makes it harder for the GP to triage and we will need more information.
The Total Triage service will be open from 7am Monday to Friday.
During the weekend or bank holidays please continue to use the 111 service or call 999 for life threatening emergencies.
Please note that at times we may temporarily suspend the online triage form to help manage the demand. In these circumstances you will see the following:
- A message to advise that the Patient Triage is temporarily unavailable and information on when the link will be active again and how to contact the practice another way.
- A message prompting patient to use NHS 111 online, to find a local pharmacy or attend the Urgent Treatment Centre
This change represents our commitment to providing better, more accessible healthcare for all our patients. As part of a national NHS initiative, all general practices will adopt this modern approach by March 31st, 2025.
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