Understanding Your Practice's Signposting Variation - Expert Insights Available On-Demand

For those who missed our recent webinar on optimising patient pathways in general practice, the full discussion is now available to watch on-demand.

Our expert panel brought together valuable perspectives from across primary care, featuring NHS Strategic Advisor Darren Jones (Chair), Dr Kiran Mandhyan from Holbrooks Health Team, and Healthcare Improvement Expert Simon Bricknell from Develop Consulting. Together, they explored practical solutions for identifying and addressing variation in how patients are directed within GP practices.

The session, "Understanding Your Practice's Signposting Variation: Why It Matters", offers compelling evidence that up to 30% of GP consultations could be more appropriately handled by other clinical or non-clinical staff, representing a significant opportunity to improve both practice efficiency and patient care.

Key insights from the webinar include:

• Recognising variation. Practices often first notice inconsistent signposting when clinicians repeatedly raise concerns about inappropriate appointments in their sessions.

• Measuring variation. The Appropriate Appointments Online simulation reveals patterns in decision-making across the team, helping practices quantify the extent of variation.

• Implementing change. Creating skills matrices from the analytics helps identify training needs and build staff confidence in directing patients appropriately.

• Patient engagement. Clear communication about the benefits of seeing specialists like first contact physiotherapists or asthma nurses helps patients accept alternative appointments.

• System-wide benefits. Understanding signposting patterns can support broader system integration and neighbourhood team working.

  
  

Watch the full webinar here: https://youtu.be/eYrKViRjQmI

This discussion is particularly valuable for GPs, practice managers, reception staff, and health boards or clusters looking to enhance their approach to patient pathway management and improve practice efficiency.

The webinar is brought to you by the team behind Appropriate Appointments Online (AAOL), a straightforward solution to help practices identify and address unwanted variation in patient direction. Through the engaging simulation, team members spend just 10 minutes reviewing realistic patient scenarios, giving immediate insight into how consistently patients are being directed to the right care.

The Appropriate Appointments Online tool is currently available for practices in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.