Your GP Practice Receptionist will help identify who it would be best for you to see.
You might have already noticed changes when you've contacted your GP practice for an appointment. Instead of seeing a GP, you might have seen a member of your newly-expanded GP team such as a pharmacist, a physiotherapist, a nurse or a social prescriber. This is because
YOUR GP PRACTICE IS EXPANDING
As you know, Primary Care is your first point of contact with the NHS and can be with many different specialists including general practitioners (GPs), nurses and healthcare support workers, dentists, optometrists, dispensing opticians, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, and midwives. The aim of the Primary Care Improvement Programme is to ensure that your first contact is with the person who can best provide the care you need.
The Receptionist in your GP practice will play a key role in making sure you get the right care from the right specialist in the right place. Receptionists are also patient advisers as they refer patients to the right person for their care. This means that if you contact your GP practice the Receptionist will have to ask for information about why you want an appointment. You can be sure that all the information you give is treated completely confidentially and is only necessary to make sure you get an appointment with the right specialist.
Click on the heading at the bottom of this page to find out more about the role of your GP practice Receptionist.
You could see any one of these specialists - it all depends on why you've contacted your practice:
- a physiotherapist
- a pharmacist or pharmacy technician
- a social prescriber
- a registered nurse or healthcare support worker
- a mental health and wellbeing nurse
- an advanced nurse practitioner
- an advanced paramedic
Together all of these specialists and the GPs and reception and admin staff make up a multi-disciplinary team (MDT). GPs are the senior clinical leaders of the team and have a core role as general medical experts. The MDT members work together to support you and everyone in their community.
Click on the headings below to find out more about the Primary Care Improvement Programme.
