City GP promotes online booking system at open day

Bretton Medical Practice held an open day, which educated patients about its online booking system and available community health support

A city GP surgery has held an open day to encourage more patients to use an online consultation and booking system, ahead of its busy winter period.

Bretton Medical Practice in Peterborough launched Anima six months ago - an online service to book appointments, order prescriptions and check test results.

On Tuesday, the surgery hosted a drop-in event with groups such as Age UK, NHS vaccination services and mental health teams, that gave more information about the service and educated patients about the healthcare available to them.

Manager Jackie Wright said Anima had been running well and proved "efficient" regarding the booking of appointments, helping the practice to run more smoothly.

The practice is managed by Bretton Park Healthcare, which has just over 20,000 registered patients between its two sites - Bretton Medical Practice and Park Medical Centre, off Broadway.

It caters to people from many cultures, offering advice in at least 17 languages, Ms Wright said.

"We are an inner-city practice and very multicultural," she said.

"The online service requests can be inputted in their own languages and converts it back to English when it's sent to us, to make sure it has all the information from the patient that we need."

The practice also has an "Anima corner" at the site for those who struggle with technology, with a member of staff helping to register requests.

Valery Matton has been a patient at the Bretton surgery since 1975

Valery Matton has been going to the Peterborough surgery since the 1970s.

She said she was "not a fan of the internet" and did not use Anima's booking system.

"I usually get someone to do it for me, or phone the surgery to book an appointment," she said.

However, she said she lived on her own and got information about social groups for her to attend at the open day.

Jason McNally said the mental health support desk was very useful at the open day

Jason McNally is another patient at the surgery and said events like the open day "should be held more often", describing it as a "great experience".

Hazel Nelson, lead nurse practitioner, set up a desk on cervical smears to encourage more uptake.

"Today has been well attended. So far, I have seen two people who walked in for the event and checked their blood pressure - both were high, and now they have been seen with a GP and been treated.

"I have also vaccinated some elderly people for their RSV jabs.

"It's all about preventing illness than treating illness."

Shams Choudhury, a cancer patient, said her experience at the surgery had always been "positive".

A similar drop-in session is due to be held on Thursday at Park Medical Centre.

The drop-in session was well-attended, with many patients getting information on accessing Anima's service