Case study: Bridge Lane Group Practice
From queues out the door to calm, coordinated care with total triage
Since July 2024, Bridge Lane’s 14,000+ patients have experienced fairer, faster access to care – while staff report calmer days, improved workflows, and a stronger team culture.
Their journey shows how total triage can support both patient care and staff wellbeing – while helping practices meet the new GP contract access requirements.
To mark one year of their total triage journey, Bridge Lane Group Practice invited us to their anniversary celebration and reflected with us on what’s changed.
Hear the full story from Bridge Lane
Get bespoke support from an existing total triage practice
Book a training call with an ambassador for tips and tailored advice on total triage.
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Impact at a glance:
Better access and faster care
Same-day appointments available into the afternoon, with phone waits down from 30 minutes to just 3 – and no more long queues outside.
Dramatic drop in phone pressure
Incoming calls have reduced by almost 50%, freeing up time and reducing stress for both reception and clinical teams.
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A calmer, more connected team
Reception and clinicians now work side by side, strengthening collaboration and reducing stress.
Context: queues, stress, and firefighting
Before moving to total triage, Bridge Lane’s system was overwhelmed. Patients queued outside before 8am, and the telephones rang continuously. Appointments were booked on a first-come, first-served basis – and were usually gone by 8:15am. Receptionists faced the brunt of patient frustration, and GPs on duty days were handed long lists of urgent-sounding tasks once the appointments had run out.
Staff wanted to design a safer, fairer and more manageable system for everyone.
You’d open the doors and the first thing you’d see were queues going around the building. Phones ringing non-stop. By 8:15, appointments were all gone.
Akanni, Reception Manager
It felt like I was constantly firefighting. You’d spend the morning with an empty diary, then be slammed with a long list of urgent tasks – often booking patients in to see yourself. It was chaotic and reactive.
Dr Anna Stubbens, Salaried GP
In July 2024, everything changed...
The practice moved to a total triage model using Accurx – supported by training, learnings from other practices, and shared planning.
Now, no matter how a patient contacts the practice (online, phone or in-person), their request is captured through Accurx and is triaged by a clinician.
Here’s how the system works:
To support the model, GPs rotate into the triaging role for half-day sessions, giving clinicians time for focused decision-making while maintaining continuity of care.
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Patients submit their request online. Alternatively, reception staff submit the request on behalf of patients in person or over the phone.
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All requests flow into a shared Accurx inbox, which every team member has visibility over.
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A triaging GP and receptionist sit side-by-side behind reception, reviewing and assigning requests.
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Patients are directed to the most appropriate care.
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If an appointment is required, the booking team calls or sends a self-book link to the patient, in line with the patient’s preferred method of contact.
What’s changed?
Team collaboration is stronger than ever
Reception and clinicians now work side by side, with shared understanding and mutual respect.
Workdays are calmer and more predictable
With all requests coming into one shared inbox, the practice has all the data needed to forecast and manage demand.
Patients experience fairer, faster care
Now, no matter the contact route, patients receive a prompt response, with average response times being less than an hour.
We’ve broken down the wall between reception and clinicians. We feel like one team.
It’s undoubtedly a fairer system. If you couldn’t queue up at 8am before, you were at a disadvantage.
Anouska Forte, Practice Business Manager
Triage days are now my favourite days. The work is more structured. You know who you’re seeing and why.
Dr Anna Stubbens, Salaried GP
Get support from existing total triage practices
For Bridge Lane, hearing from other practices was key to feeling confident about the move to total triage. Watch the video to hear how they made the change – and what they learned along the way.
Book a free call with a total triage ambassador. These are experienced GP staff who’ve led this change themselves and now support other practices with advice and tailored guidance.
I was quite sceptical about the whole system and went out as the partner representative to go and observe local practices that were using an Accurx total triage model. Now, if someone came and said they were taking our triage system away, I’d be absolutely distraught.
Dr Judith Pearson, GP Partner