shared appointments

A really interesting idea for reducing the pressure on the NHS – highly applicable to rural places. This article tells us:

In medicine, the private one-to-one consultation is sacrosanct.

Yet shared medical appointments have been used successfully for years at the Cleveland Clinic in the US. Patients appreciate them. They compare experiences with other patients, learn from their questions, gain more advice than they might otherwise, and improve their understanding of their symptoms.

For the hospital, the gains are seen in improved outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, dramatically reduced waiting times and lower costs.

Here, then, is an innovation that could help the NHS, caught between rising demand and squeezed budgets, which is leading to longer waiting lists and growing discontent. By sharing appointments, more patients could be treated more quickly, reducing waiting times, saving costs, yet raising standards of care.

They have been tried by GPs in Edinburgh, Sheffield and Newcastle, following the lead of doctors in the US and Australia.