Public Notice: Contract changes coming into effect from 1st of October 2025:
We would like to make you aware that from October, there will be national GP contract changes that will affect how GP services are delivered. Unfortunately, these changes are outside of our control, and we are concerned that they could significantly impact the service we are able to provide.
The main change is we are essentially being forced to move to a “Total Triage” system, in order to deliver the new NHS GP contract safely.
Every query or request for an appointment received by the practice, either in person, via telephone, or online via our eConsult software, must receive a response from the practice to advise ‘what will happen next’ within 1 working day. There is no safe limit applied to how many requests or queries a practice must deal with and therefore demand for our triage service will be unlimited on any given day.
Having considered how we can work to meet these new contractual requirements in a safe way, we have concluded that it will be necessary to allocate a greater proportion of GP time to triaging (reviewing and assessing the urgency of, and the appropriate response to, requests of a clinical nature). This will inevitably result in reduced GP availability to provide more ‘classical’ consultations, when it is deemed, following triage, that this is what is required. This may mean that patients will need to be redirected to other services more regularly than is presently the case and will likely mean that waiting times for GP appointments for less urgent problems will increase.
To provide a streamlined and consistent approach for all patients, we will need to increase our use of eConsult, and patients who are unable to submit their query or request via this online service themselves, will be assisted by Reception.
We are aware from our own recent patient survey, to which many of you kindly responded, that a total triage system is not your preference. However, to meet the contractual demands placed upon us by NHS England and the Department of Health in a safe way, we feel that we have no choice but to move to this new way of working.
Must be noted that majority of local GP surgeries are also moving towards similar systems and total triaging.
We want to reassure you that our priority remains providing safe and effective care to all our patients, and we will continue to do our best to support you under this new system. We will share further updates as soon as more guidance becomes available.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support during this period of change.
Partners at Garden City Surgery
