Our Managing Director, Kat James, reflects on what is at the core of successful NHS A&G projects around the country and how these remain relevant today:
1. MEANINGFUL CHOICE: The heart of A&G
For GPs to integrate A&G seamlessly into their daily practice and make it their go-to solution for patients who may not necessarily require a referral, the A&G offer must be truly relevant. This means providing access to specialties frequently needed by GPs and their patients. While there’s no right or wrong, we’ve found that offering at least 4-8 of the main elective specialties is the minimum starting position.
Our top five specialties by volume across all projects are:
- Paediatrics
- Haematology
- Gynaecology
- Diabetes & Endocrinology
- Cardiology
2. RELIABILITY: Non-negotiable for GP confidence
Reliability is key to A&G’s success. To ensure GPs consistently use the service, they must be able to trust it; for them to trust it, it must provide fast, reliable responses every time. Give GPs multiple channels for accessing A&G tailored to different situations:
- For some patient cases, such as non-urgent cases, it can be easier to sit down and write up the request, ensuring all patient history is pulled from patient records.
- An immediate telephone conversation might be more effective for other cases, including urgent cases, or when the GP isn’t entirely sure about the issue at hand or what to look for.
However, no matter the channel, answer times need to be fast and reliable, and this needs to be the case not sometimes, but all of the time. If delays occur, GPs’ confidence diminishes, and the likelihood of them reverting to the default option of a referral will understandably increase.
At Consultant Connect, our first-time answer rate for telephone services is over 80%, and callers get through in under 30 seconds on average. For messaging services, the average turnaround is under 6 hours. For those services using e-RS A&G, our new e-RS Connect interface is also slashing answer times for many hospital teams across the country by allowing secondary care to deliver A&G on e-RS in less than half the time.
For local services with low or no capacity to run reliable A&G, Consultant Connect’s National Consultant Network (NCN) ensures support is available, whether for a temporary basis or as a longer-term solution. The NCN brings in NHS consultants from across the country to answer A&G remotely.
3. Run it as a SERVICE
Behind every well-run hospital service is a service manager and a wider team. Every GP practice relies on its practice manager. This principle also holds true for A&G services; central support is key.
Projects that achieve the above points on meaningful choice and reliability are run by a local NHS team that is not just there in the early days of a ramp-up but throughout the everyday of the A&G service – both at the secondary and primary care end. At Consultant Connect, we have over 20 colleagues in our Account Management team who support local NHS managers to:
- Monitor A&G usage patterns
- Identify areas of over- or underutilisation
- Provide actionable data insights and reports
- Optimise rotas and workflows
- And much more
Kat James, hosted a panel discussion on Tuesday, 1 July 2025, with NHS leaders from across the country on ‘How to get A&G right’. Listen to the recording here.
If you have any questions or want to review your current A&G setup and explore opportunities for expansion and improvement, email info@consultantconnect.org.uk or call us on 01865 261 467.
Related materials:
