Access routes: telephone, online and front desk

Patients contact the practice by phone, online request, walk-in attendance, text reply, proxy contact or via another professional. Care navigation should operate consistently across all these routes.

A patient unable to use an online form must receive the same standard of access. A distressed walk-in should not be told to go home and submit an online request if immediate support or escalation is needed. Digital requests also require review and safe routing.

What consistency looks like

• The practice explains what information it will ask for and why.
• Staff collect the same core information across phone, online and front-desk routes.
• Requests are recorded in the agreed system rather than kept in memory or on scraps of paper.
• Patients are told what will happen next and what to do if symptoms worsen.
• Routes remain available for people who have difficulty with phone queues, digital forms, language, hearing, disability or distress.

Four-nation note: access language varies

Care navigation should make access clearer across every contact route, not create a digital or telephone obstacle course.