GP case study: Gastroenterology

Dr Kashif Ali works at Dunn & Partners in Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board. The surgery has had access to Phone Advice & Guidance, commissioned by the Health Board, since October 2018. Dr Ali has been a GP for thirteen years and is also the Primary Care Lead for Diabetes MCN. He uses the service to speak to consultants at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. 

Phone Advice & Guidance is a useful tool to Dr Ali who has used it on many opportunities to benefit his patients. Before the service was introduced, Dr Ali’s primary methods for contacting consultants included phoning the hospital switchboard or writing an email. Dr Ali prefers Phone Advice & Guidance as it is:
“Quick and easy to use.”

It has also had positive results for his patients. Many of them have been able to:
“Stay at home or [have been] seen in a clinic soon after.”

When asked what advice he would give to other GPs who are unsure about using the service, Dr Ali said:

“Definitely use it. We need to embrace technology!”

Below is a recent clinical example of how Dr Ali has used Phone Advice & Guidance to benefit a patient.
Dr Ali has used Phone Advice & Guidance on multiple occasions which has resulted in “possible acute admissions [being] avoided.”
In one instance, a patient presented “with obvious inflammatory bowel disease.”  It was not clear what the best course of action was, and Dr Ali was unsure whether to start the patient on steroids.

How Phone A&G helped:
Dr Ali was able to use immediate Phone Advice & Guidance (via Consultant Connect) to speak to a gastroenterologist from his local hospital. The gastroenterologist provided advice and recommended commencing the patient on steroids in addition to an urgent outpatient clinic referral. This avoided an acute admission – a much better result for the patient. Both the patient and Dr Ali were satisfied by the use of Phone Advice & Guidance.

Click here to view and download a PDF version of this case study.