NEW: Our Response to Press Coverage of NHS England’s letter to GPs

Patients may be aware of media reports regarding General Practice. We wanted to clarify Jesmond Health Partnerships’ perspective regarding these reports and the guidance that has been issued.

1. The introduction of Salvie/AskMYGP has been a fundamental change to the way patients access the practice and get advice. This has allowed the practice to safely and effectively manage patients’ care and the feedback from patients has been very positive. 93% of patients asked feel the service is either ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ 

2. Our ethos is that we use the system to provide personalised healthcare to patients. It allows the practice to address queries by the right person in the right timeframe. AskMyGP really helps us to achieve this with patients on average receiving a response within 15 minutes and, on average, their query being resolved within 5 hours. Approximately 80% of all queries are completed within 24 hours of contacting the practice. 

3. Throughout the pandemic, JHP has never closed its doors and has continued to offer Face to Face appointments where it was felt appropriate and necessary. Our intention is to continue to offer the service moving forward and to build on the success of the AskMyGP system despite the substantial pressures the NHS is under. We feel using such systems is central to our ability to safely and effectively manage the health needs of our population. 

4. AskMyGP allows patients to suggest a preference for how the practice deals with their query. However, at times the clinician may feel that it is more appropriate to see the patient. For example, in the last 8 weeks, 15% of patients requesting a telephone response or email have been asked to attend the practice for a face-to-face appointment. 

We want to express our thanks to patients for their patience and support throughout a time that has been so challenging for everyone. We have all had to adapt to the situation, and we’re grateful to have been able to work with patients to do this.

Your experience and feedback as patients is important to us, and we want to hear your thoughts and suggestion. If you have anything you’d like to share with us at any time, you can use our feedback page.