How technology and automation can help practices to become more efficient
Why is primary care in the UK under so much pressure?
Pressure on clinicians working in general practice has increased significantly in the last five years. With a reduction in the number of GPs in the UK and a significant increase in patients (six times compared to 2015), it’s become very challenging to continue to deliver outstanding patient care—which is what all working in primary care want to continue to do.
Several factors contribute to the reduction in the number of GPs: increased workloads, stress, cuts in funding, challenges to recruit, problems with IT, more patients and, unfortunately, often unrealistic expectations of what is possible. These challenges have made it harder for GP practices to deliver quality patient care, so they are working much harder, with less funding, to ensure patients are cared for properly.
What help is possible?
The good news is that innovations like automation (RPA) and AI are now affordable, and by automating some of the work, you can free valuable clinical and administrative time, drive down costs, reduce errors, and enforce standardisation. Safely passing chunks of daily tasks to automation products means some practices will not need to close, stress levels can be reduced, and both GPs and administrative staff can devote more time to patient care to maintain outstanding service.
What are automation products?
Automation (RPA) products are purpose-built robots that use predefined algorithms to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks. Tasks performed by automation products include normal pathology filing, document handling, patient registrations, and more. They can be installed quickly and already know what to do. Automation products don’t get tired, bored, or stressed, are quicker than people, and have audit logs so you can see what they have done.
Application of automation in primary care
Automating patient registrations, handling documents that GP practices receive in EMIS or SystmOne, and reading pathology reports to filter on normal and file are all possible now and are being used at scale in primary care.
Benefits of primary care automation products
Time: Free clinical and administrative time, process work quicker to support patient care, and provide audit trails.
Money: Reducing the time spent on manual tasks can result in significant cost savings and reduce the need for additional staff.
Administrative tasks: Reducing staff workloads allows them to focus on additional work to enforce a well-run practice.
Accuracy: Automation minimises the risk of human error and will enforce standardisation.
Final Words
New ways of working are now available, and using automation products in primary care will significantly alleviate pressures faced by GPs and other healthcare professionals. While new ways of working can take a little time to get used to, they do work, and the value is there. By reducing the administrative workload, practices can focus on what matters most—delivering exceptional patient care.
JifJaff built the MyBotGP automation product range specifically for NHS primary care and can be used at GP Practices, PCNs, and federations.
Our Contact details:
Phone: +44 (0)208 004 5036
Email: enquiries@jifjaff.co.uk
Website: www.jifjaff.co.uk