Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) guidance on telephone consultations in primary care

• Practice teams should regard the telephone as a means of improving access and personal care, rather than as a barrier.
• Patients should be involved in any plans to develop or change the telephone-based services a practice provides.
• A practice should have one incoming telephone line per 2,500 registered patients, and the flexibility to open further lines at busy times.
• All incoming and outgoing telephone calls with patients and carers should be noted in medical records.
• Doctors should be flexible regarding consultations so as to meet the needs of patients who prefer the phone.
• Doctors might consider telephone follow-up as an alternative to some face-to-face consultations for common conditions such as depression and cancer.
• An article from the June 2009 issue of The British Journal of General Practice concluded that ‘Used appropriately, telephone consulting enhances access to health care, aids continuity, and saves time and travelling for patients. The current emphasis for acute triage, however, worried clinicians and patients. Given these findings, and until the safe use of telephone triage is fully understood and agreed on by stakeholders, policy makers and clinicians should be using the telephone primarily for managing follow up appointments when diagnostic assessment has already been undertaken.