Care Navigator Flipbook

An introduction to Care Navigator From Krishna Vakharia, Chief Medical Officer, EMIS

It’s for all these reasons that I’m excited for our new Care Navigator solution and believe it will transform how practices manage their capacity and demand, improving the experience of both patients and practice teams.

As a GP working on the front line, I’ve seen firsthand the impact of increased patient demand, while practices

remain incredibly under-resourced. We need to look differently at the way care is provided if we’re to create sustainable primary care services for the future, and I believe that technology has an important role to play in this. Initiatives like Pharmacy First aim to divert some patients to local pharmacies, but many people still see GPs as their first port of call. GP practices therefore need effective methods to triage patients to the right care first time. By creating digital pathways and improving communication channels, we can improve access for patients. Capturing patient information in simple online forms enables care navigation teams to assess patients’ care needs and resolve them appropriately – sharing self-care information, issuing sick notes, and booking video or face-to face appointments in-house or with wider local services. We can also reduce pressures on practice teams through proactive communication with our patients. Being able to direct patients within a specific cohort helps us manage care on mass and supports health initiatives such as cervical screening and vaccinations. By adding self-book appointment links we can reduce the admin burden further and start to empower patients to better manage their care, working to a timetable that suits them and reducing the number of no-shows.

5

4