New Patients

When a patient first joins the practice, both the team has a unique opportunity to get to know the patient, to find out and record any relevant health needs & concerns; to take a full medical history; to educate the patient in the systems and processes of the practice; and to involve the patient in his or her own healthcare.

For this reason, all patients who wish to register at the practice are given a 30-minute appointment with the patient support worker, who takes them through an online registration questionnaire (see below).

This questionnaire captures all relevant demographic and morbidity data (including all data required for New GMS Quality and Outcomes Framework and also the NSFs). At the end of the questionnaire, the patient is presented with a handheld “Patient Health Record” (either on paper or digitally) which includes their relevant history, relevant patient education leaflets and relevant review schedules (informing them how often they need review, with whom, what tests they should have done, how regularly they should have them, and what they can do to help themselves).

Illustration: One of the Pages of the Online BK Health Patient Registration Questionnaire

Involving patients with this process and providing them with their patient held record ensures that a culture of patient-professional partnership is established from the first moment they join the practice. It also ensures that all relevantly data is captured early, enabling accurate disease registers and summary data to be collected. Without this, it is impossible to plan high quality and tailored care for the local population.