For non-emergencies, children are usually seen at the Together clinic within four weeks of first consulting their GP. Appointments take place in their own practice or one nearby. This means the whole process is speedier than the traditional route. In urgent cases, children are referred for further investigations within days and GP involvement means follow-up appointments can take place at the surgery without waiting for an outpatient slot.
Jennie Rankin attended the Together clinic at Earlsfield Practice with her daughter Grace, aged seven months. Grace has experienced health problems since contracting viral meningitis when she was three weeks old. Jennie said: “We’ve had two admissions to St George’s hospital with bronchiolitis, which is why we saw the paediatrician today. It has been quite stressful and quite scary but being able to come to our local GP and see a consultant, who we’ve dealt with before at St George’s has been absolutely amazing. We haven’t had to wait months."
Dr Khalida Salim of the the Earlsfield Practice takes part in Together clinics with Marianne. She said: “This is one of the best changes I’ve seen in general practice over the past few years. It breaks down barriers. Before, just to reach a paediatrician or a consultant at the hospital took a lot of time. Now we just write a short email, asking ‘what advice do you give?’, making it so much easier for us.”
According to Dr Marianne Leach: “Children like the clinics because they’re in a familiar environment, parents like them because they don’t have to go to the hospital and GPs and paediatricians love them because they are more efficient, faster and, so much better for the patient.”
Read more here https://swlondonccg.nhs.uk/news/together-clinics/
