General practice has changed quickly. Demand has increased significantly in recent years, yet the workforce has not grown at the same pace. The challenge is not simply handling more calls, it’s finding efficiencies without compromising care.
Rather than adding isolated digital tools, the team at Alexander House Surgery chose to redesign how patients move through the practice. Their focus was not technology for its own sake but building a model that is sustainable and joined up. The practice had a clear goal: digital routes should not replace traditional ones or exclude certain groups, but instead offer true patient choice.
“It’s important that it’s equitable… that digital solutions don’t just make efficiencies while excluding populations. We don’t ever want to have that social exclusion.” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
At Alexander House Surgery, patients can still wait to speak to a person over the phone. However, for those who want to pass on information quickly, structured digital and voice routes now sit alongside traditional telephony. This underpins the practice’s move towards intelligent care navigation.
Easing pressure & equitable access at the front door
Mornings at Alexander House Surgery begin with triaging and answering calls. Prescription queries, referral updates and appointment requests all land at once. Historically, that has meant long queues and heavy pressure on reception.
The practice hoped to change that through the introduction of Omni Consultation – Voice Agent. This enables patients to contact the practice in a way that suits them, by phone, online or with staff support. If a patient calls the practice, they can opt to talk through their request with the Voice Agent whereby submissions will flow into the same structured triage pathway in Surgery Connect. This removes barriers linked to language and digital confidence or access, while providing the practice with consistent, quality data.
Initially, the reception team at Alexander House Surgery were cautious and unsure how patients would respond. In practice, the experience has been quite different:
“The patients quite like the AI now they’ve got more used to it and they know that we action it quite quickly. We can put it straight into triage if that’s what’s needed or direct where it needs to be. Generally, it picks up 99% of what the patient is saying accurately.” (Jackie, Receptionist)
Instead of relying solely on live conversations, staff can now read structured requests collected by the Voice Agent and route them directly into triage. For busy patients, it removes the need to wait in a queue. Instead, they can access the practice via the phone but leave their request with the Voice Agent. The result is not fewer patient contacts, but better structured ones that are easier to action.
“The Voice Agent is already becoming ‘business as usual’ in the practice. It creates a level of efficiency we haven’t seen before. It’s as big a step forward for patient communications as voice telephony was in the first instance.” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
Related watch: How the Voice Agent is transforming Online Consultations at Alexander House Surgery
Extending navigation beyond the phone
While the Voice Agent supports patients calling into the practice, Surgery Assist strengthens the digital front door.
Many queries do not require an appointment. Alexander House Surgery finds patients often want information about appointment times, the NHS App or how best to contact the surgery. Instead of defaulting to the phone, they can now use the Surgery Assist chatbot at any time of day to answer routine admin queries and signpost out to appropriate community services.
“The chatbot can educate patients while they’re trying to access a service. They can get the information they need, or the appropriate healthcare 24 hours a day. It’s there to make the patient’s life easier and it adds another level of convenience.” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
The chatbot also links directly into their telephony. Patients can now request a callback via the chatbot without picking up the phone or sitting in a queue. Patients can also see live queue data, including how many people are waiting, helping them decide whether to stay on the phone, request a callback or switch to a digital route.
The result is not pushing patients away from the phone. It is giving them visibility and control over how they access care.
Connecting access across Alexander House Surgery
Redesigning the front door was only one part of the shift. Primarily, the team needed visibility over what was happening across their phone lines and appointments.
Before moving to Surgery Connect, Alexander House Surgery did not have clear insight into call volumes, peak demand or waiting times. That made it difficult to plan capacity or understand where pressure points sat.
With the Cloud telephony in place, the team could see where queues built up and where staffing needed adjusting. Small changes quickly had a measurable impact. The introduction of “Check and Cancel”, for example, led to an instant drop in avoidable calls. Crucially, the system is flexible. It adapts to the practice, rather than forcing the practice to adapt to it.
“You could see where your pinch points were… where we didn’t have enough people answering the phone, or where our peak demand was. Check and cancel had an instant 7% reduction in phone calls overnight. You can use the system for what you need it to be in a given situation – it’s not prescriptive” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
Supporting clinicians inside the consultation
While reception pressure was being addressed, clinicians were facing a different strain. Patients rarely present with a single issue, and capturing everything accurately while maintaining eye contact can be challenging. Before using ambient voice technology, documentation felt overwhelming and clinics would often overrun because clinicians tried to document thoroughly while staying present.
“Before using Surgery Intellect, the amount of paperwork and risk of maybe not capturing everything that the patients come in to tell you… it can be quite overwhelming.” (Pip, Advanced Nurse Practitioner)
There was initial hesitancy introducing ambient voice technology into consultations: Would it distract from patient interaction? Would it change the dynamic in the room? Instead, clinicians found it to be a source of strength and a safety net.
“The beauty of the ambient scribe is that I can actually look at the patient. I can actually focus on the patient knowing that an accurate record is going to be taken down. On the whole accuracy of the software, I can’t fault it. I’d say it’s still important to have a clinician in the loop though.” (Gemma, Nurse Prescriber)
With Surgery Intellect, powered by TORTUS, capturing and structuring the consultation in real time, documentation can continue in the background while clinicians focus on the patient. Clinicians review and amend notes before filing, maintaining full clinical control. For a practice that carries out significant remote triage, integration with their existing telephony was critical.
“Having Surgery Intellect integrated back into the telephony and available in the consulting room gives that level of detail that’s really useful. It was easy. And I think that’s really important. And it’s familiar – it just makes sense.” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
Using data to make proactive improvements
As demand has increased, Alexander House Surgery has relied on more than instinct to guide decisions. Clear, consistent GP practice data has become central to how they plan capacity and shape services.
Surgery Insights brings together regular reporting across telephony, workforce and activity, so the team can see where demand is building and where adjustments are needed. Rather than responding once pressure peaks, they can act earlier and with greater confidence.
“It makes planning for 3-5 years ahead much easier because you know where your demand is and what it looks like. The data is refreshed almost weekly so you can react and say ‘we need to create more capacity here’. It also allows you to compare to national averages. So, our telephone calls compared to national averages are lower. We’re confident that’s to do with the integration of our tools, because patients are getting the information without necessarily needing to speak to somebody.” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
In this context, data is not just a reporting requirement. It is a practical management tool that supports workforce planning and validates the impact of integrated tools in primary care. By bringing visibility to demand, Alexander House Surgery has moved from reactive firefighting to informed, forward planning.
What intelligent care navigation means in practice for Alexander House Surgery
Across reception, management and clinical teams, the shift is not about a single product. It is about designing a connected pathway from first contact to completed consultation.
At the front door, patients can choose how they access care. They can speak to a person, use the Voice Agent or speak with the chatbot. Requests arrive structured and ready for triage. Behind the scenes, telephony data highlights pressure points and supports resource planning. Inside the consultation, ambient voice technology supports accurate documentation while allowing clinicians to focus fully on the patient.
“It doesn’t even feel like a conscious decision… it feels like a natural evolution.” (Patrick, Practice Business Manager)
In a context where demand has surged but resources have not, that evolution matters.
Alexander House Surgery has moved beyond isolated digital fixes. Instead, it has built an intelligent care navigation system that connects voice, workflow, consultation and data into one joined-up approach.
The result is not fewer patients. It is clearer journeys, better structured information and a model of access designed to be equitable and sustainable for the future.
Want to explore what intelligent care navigation could look like for your practice?