Clinical Contact Point
The Clinical Contact Point is a formalised role within a practice that receives and triages incoming clinical communications. Practices already have systems in place, this document is to further assist practices to consider their current system and areas for improvement.
Why have the Clinical Contact Point?
The aim of the Clinical Contact Point is to ensure all clinical communications received are triaged and managed appropriately.
Clinical Contact Points will be utilised in the practice to:
- Facilitate and integrate communication between the practice and the healthcare neighborhood.
- Ensure a timely response to clinical follow up.
- Improve patient management and flow.
- Prioritise patient safety.
- Identify vulnerable patients for management.
This will improve continuity of care and ensure urgent messages are actioned on arrival by clinical staff, reducing telephone tag. The Clinical Contact Point can also provide a solution to patient handover for part-time staff.
Principles of the Clinical Contact Point
For effective management of clinical communications, the Clinical Contact Point should ensure:
- A system is in place to access and triage secure messaging within 24 hours of receipt.
- Contact from Local Health District staff and the wider healthcare neighborhood is managed at the time of contact.
- Management of patients requiring telehealth or same day appointment is appropriately triaged.
- Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or influenza, and vulnerable patients are reviewed, triaged, contacted, and clinically managed.
Implementing the Clinical Contact Point
The implementation of the Clinical Contact Point will largely be determined by the size of the practice and number of staff working on a day-to-day basis.
Practice Considerations
Practices will need to consider:
- Their current team configuration and configuration of the practice appointment book.
- The capacity of clinical staff members.
We have developed case studies for how implementation will function according to practice size:
