Our Appointment System

We have some exciting news about a forthcoming upgrade to our appointment system that will be a huge improvement on our current methods of contacting the surgery, and triaging the care you need.

Back in 2023 New Pond Row Surgery took a leap of faith and embraced the latest technology available to NHS surgeries, launching a new way for our patients to contact the surgery, a method called Total Triage. Total Triage is an approach recommended by NHS England to improve accessibility to general practice services. The main objectives of Total Triage are to enhance the quality of care patients receive, to ensure that they are given the most appropriate appointment or advice to meet their needs and that this is done in an equitable and timely way.

In April 2023 we launched the new system. The majority of the feedback we have received from you regarding the system was positive, which was great to hear! Unfortunately as a side effect of becoming more accessible, overall demand on the practice has increased massively, which is not sustainable with our current staffing levels. We have been advertising for more GPs & other clinical staff, plus support staff, but with increasingly limited space in the surgery for people to work from, this has proven to be too big a problem to ignore and we needed to consider what we did next. 

We knew we couldn’t go back to the “old” way of doing things so we looked for an alternative provider of the Total Triage system, one that made it easier for our patients to use, and one that provided all the functionality we needed as a practice to ensure we are able manage our workload more efficiently and effectively. After much deliberation, we decided to go with a new system called Anima, one of a few super-efficient tools we aim to take advantage of to alleviate pressure on our already stretched team.

We are aiming to launch Anima in mid-April 2024. To get yourself ready to use Anima, you can sign up for an account, and connect your NHS app login (if you have one), in time for when the system goes live. It will also give you time to familiarise yourself with Anima and how it looks. To advise, Anima is NOT an app - you do not need to download or install anything onto your computer, tablet or phone. It is completely web-based, meaning as long as you can access the internet on your device, you can use Anima. The team behind Anima are looking to hopefully integrate with the NHS app itself later, so in the future it will become even easier to access. Sign up for an Anima account here

Patients who cannot use the internet will still be able to telephone the surgery as before.

We would like to ask for your patience whilst we change to Anima. We are aware that introducing any new system may have some teething troubles, however we are not anticipating too much disruption as we have been using a Total Triage system for a while already.

We have listened to your feedback regarding the previous system and we believe you will find Anima easier to use. We are really excited about the benefits the new system will bring to all our patients and staff.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as the surgery adapts to the new ways of working expected and needed of us. The whole team is truly very grateful for your support.

Published: Mar 26, 2024