Peterborough GP surgeries to move away from telephone appointment bookings in favour of online

Two Peterborough GP surgeries will move away from asking patients to book appointments online instead insisting this must be done online.

Bretton Medical Practice and Park Medical Practice, both part of Bretton Park Healthcare, will ask all patients to book appointments through online booking service ANIMA as of May 15.

Requests for prescriptions and test results will have to be made via the NHS app.

Both GP surgeries were rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission in November having been placed in special measures in February.

One of the criticisms of the surgery at that time was that patients had difficulties booking an appointment over the phone.

The practice has said that the change will help to serve patients better and reduce queues on the phone lines.

A statement from Senior Partner GP Dr Mark Attah said: “From the 15th of May 2024, we will only be able to take requests for appointments and enquiries through ANIMA, except for emergencies. Requests for prescriptions and test results must be with NHS App.“You will no longer be able to book an appointment over the telephone unless you are unable to access our services on your telephone or computer.“If you come to the reception, you will be required to complete a form on Anima. Our team are available to assist with this.“Please work with us as this will help us reduce the queues on the telephone and serve you better.”

More details on the ANIMA system and the change can be found at www.brettonparkhealthcare.co.uk.