The challenge:
In January, the team were approached by BSW CCG to support the planned closure of two SystmOne practices
Monmouth and Grosvenor Place Surgeries in Bath. Approximately 8,000 patients were to be transferred to nine local surgeries, via a managed dispersal process that involved either manual registration or bulk transfer by the system supplier (TPP).
Initially, patients would be allocated a practice but were able to change practices if they wished. This work was to be completed by the end of March. In preparation for this transfer a major housekeeping exercise on each practice’s clinical system was necessary, to ensure that all patients were fully GMS registered at time of dispersal. This included dealing with outstanding registration queries, deductions, private and temporary patients; completing all electronic prescribing, pathology, and document management tasks; and creating lists of patients for each of the destination practices. At the time of the planned closure both practices were busy with COVID-19 vaccination clinics and would need daily support from team, in order to deal with the volume and complexity of the work required.
What we delivered:
We created over 200 clinical reports to identify patients’ registration status (fully registered, applied, private, temporary, etc.), as well as highlight out-of-area patients and other anomalies. This work required working closely with practice staff and GPs to help resolve any registration queries. With patient lists from the supplier of those to be transferred in bulk, we were able to create ad hoc lists and clinical reports for each of the destination practices, as well as creating separate reports on those patients being transferred manually. For each individual transfer we created reports on a patient’s online account status and sharing consent preferences for the destination practice.
Having supported the project team with the process of creating a pooled list for Monmouth Surgery (in liaison with PCSE), we were able to transfer all patients onto this list. This was necessary, as Monmouth was a single-handed practice. In line with the supplier bulk transfer schedule, we could then transfer cohorts of patients internally to the registered GP, so they could then be transferred overnight to their new destination practice.
At Grosvenor Place, all patients were first transferred internally to a single GP, prior to bulk transfer. Once the supplier was ready, each cohort of patients to be bulk transferred to a destination practice was again transferred internally first, to another GP, in readiness for this process to take place.
Following each bulk transfer, we ran reports to ensure that all patients had been transferred successfully to their destination practice. This process was repeated for each of the seven bulk transfers, until all patients had been successfully transferred to their destination practice.
Outcome:
All 8,000 patients were successfully transferred to one of nine destination practices by the end of March. Following on from this, we delivered training and support to these practices to assist with reactivate online accounts and sharing consent preferences for the newly transferred patients.
We continued to monitor the Monmouth and Grosvenor systems for pathology reports and hospital correspondence; and assisted the CCG and PCSE with any outstanding registration queries they had. By the end of April, with all outstanding registration queries resolved and no further reports incoming, both systems were closed successfully.
Recognition/feedback
Without the support and expertise of the training team this piece of work would not have been possible in the timescales available. As Rebecca White, Practice Closures Project Manager, recognised:
“We just wanted to drop you both a line to formally thank you for your invaluable support in preparing for the practice closures. You both have been instrumental in ensuring the smooth transition of patients to receiving practices – and providing assurance to the closing practices.
I have particularly been grateful for your responsiveness and thoroughness in ensuring all issues were resolved ahead of the transfer. It has been a pleasure working with you both”.