2025/11/03 by Jo Parsons, Carol Bryce, Joanna Fleming +3 · 1 voice
Medicine · Health Professions · #Chronic Disease Management Strategies #Primary Care and Health Outcomes #Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare
paper · pdf · doi:10.3399/bjgpo.2025.0133
openalex created_date 2025/11/03 · openalex publication_date 2025/11/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
BACKGROUND: Recent years have seen increasing pressure on primary care workforce and appointments, with telephone-first introduced in the UK to manage demand and workload. Patients discuss healthcare needs via telephone with a GP before being invited to make an appointment.Older people are at increased risk of inequality in accessing primary care appointments, with more long-term conditions and increased communication difficulties using telephone. These inequalities were potentially exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. AIM: This study aimed to explore experiences of older people, carers, and general practice teams in using telephone-first to access appointments. DESIGN & SETTING: Qualitative study in primary care. METHOD: We conducted 48 interviews with older people or their carers and six focus groups with staff from general practices using telephone-first. RESULTS: Practices and older patients had varied approaches to telephone-first. As well as adapting to the concept of triage call-back, challenges for older people and their practices included changing their understanding of what constituted consultations. Trust between patients and their general practice influenced views and experiences, with acceptance of telephone-first being linked to their overall trust in the general practice. We observed differing views on how telephone-first worked between patients and general practices reflecting poor communication between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Systems implemented into practices need to be adequately explained, regarding processes, staff roles, and expectations of patients, to allow for thorough understanding and a demystification of the unknown. Future research should examine how telephone-first approaches affect older patients' health outcomes.