Evaluation Shows AI Triage System at Surrey GP Practice achieves 73% reduction in waiting times and improves patient care and practice efficiency

A recent evaluation commissioned by Health Innovation KSS has revealed improvements in patient access, demand and capacity management, following the implementation of Rapid Health’s Smart Triage system at The Groves Medical Centre in Surrey over a four month period.

The independent evaluation found that the Smart Triage system enabled equitable patient access, delivered digital-first primary care, automated clinical triage and booking processes, and reduced wait times for appointments.

Key findings from the evaluation, conducted by Unity Insights, include:

• 91% of appointments were automatically booked and allocated without staff or clinical intervention
• GPs now spend more time with each patient by moving from 10 to 15-minute appointments, as a result of the improved demand and capacity management
• The practice had 47% fewer phone calls at peak hours with a 58% reduction in the maximum number of concurrent calls, all but eliminating the “8am rush”.
• Patients waiting times for pre-bookable appointments were reduced by a median of eight days, with a 3-day wait compared to a 11-days wait in the pre-implementation period.
• Same-day appointment requests fell from over 62% to 19%, significantly expanding the capacity for pre-bookable appointments.
• 70% fewer patients needed a repeat appointment, having received the right care on their first visit.
• 82% of patient requests were initiated online compared to 12% in the pre-implementation period.

Speaking about the practice’s experience of using Smart Triage, Dr Andrea Fensom, GP Partner at Groves Medical Centre, said: “Rapid health has changed the way we work by optimising our resources and increasing patient access. Feedback shows that patients find it easy to use our online tool and that it’s convenient for them because it gives them multiple options for appointments (where safe to do so) and allows them to book with the most appropriate clinician for their problem.”

Improving demand and capacity

The evaluation also found that the use of Smart Triage improved demand and capacity management by automating triage and appointment booking, increasing face- to-face appointments, enhancing clinical capacity utilisation, reducing waiting times, and avoiding over triage to secondary care. Further, there were no clinical incidents or significant events during the post-implementation period, underscoring the system’s safety and demonstrating that demand and capacity were managed appropriately.

Jenny Partridge, Innovation Manager, Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex said: “I’m really pleased to see the impact that Smart Triage has had on helping patients get better access to their GP practice and enabling clinicians to work in a more sustainable way, seeing patients based on priority of need.”

Carmelo Insalaco, CEO of Rapid Health said: “We’re really proud to see the extraordinary impact of autonomous patient triage at The Groves Medical Centre. These results reflect what we consistently observe with our customers across the country – the remarkable potential for Smart Triage to dramatically enhance patient access and choice, while solving the persistent challenges of lengthy waiting lists and disruptive morning bottlenecks. We look forward to further collaboration and expansion across the wider NHS to benefit more patients and healthcare providers.”

Benefits of Smart Triage

In contrast to traditional online consultation and triage tools that only collect information and support humans in the triage process, Smart Triage is autonomous and fully automates the patient triage and navigation process from the initial contact with their GP practice. Whether requesting care online, by phone, or in person, patients are guided through a series of questions based on their concerns. The system then assesses their symptoms, clinically triages and directs the patient to the most suitable care and enables immediate self-booking into the right appointments. This streamlined process empowers patients to access care at their convenience while relieving the practice from direct involvement in each request.

Download the full evaluation here.

Download the infographic here.

Quantitative evaluation

Quantitative data from The Groves Medical Centre, Rapid Health, and NHS Digital from the pre-implementation period (29th June 2023 to 29th October 2023) and post-implementation (30th October 2023 to 29th February 2024) periods were analysed through descriptive and statistical analyses. This data consists of the first four months of implementation, so represents the implementation period only. Quantitative data examined the appointment slots obtained via requesting care through Rapid Health’s Smart Triage, compared to appointment slots in the pre-implementation period that could have been requested through Rapid Health’s Smart Triage if the system was implemented at the time. Telephone call data was also obtained to understand the number of telephone calls in the pre- and post-implementation periods.