Defence medical waiting times cut as new appointments system launches
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-07)

New Defence appointment management approach results in a 26% reduction in waiting times for patients accessing doctor appointments in primary healthcare.

Total Triage, introduced by Strategic Command’s Defence Medical Services, has been adopted by Defence medical centres and is designed to reduce unnecessary face-to-face appointments and enable greater and quicker access to medical care for those in need. One of the first centres to use the system has seen a 90% reduction in such doctor appointments, with 70% of all enquiries handled at first point of contact and leading to greater patient and staff satisfaction.

The new system completed its national rollout at 105 Defence Primary Healthcare medical centres across the UK earlier this year. In addition, Total Triage hubs have now been established at 35 Defence medical centres with a further 13 neighbouring centres permanently using the hubs by local agreement.

Under the new arrangements patients submit a request through the online form, or phone the medical centre where the request is triaged and allocated to a suitable qualified clinician within the multi-disciplinary team. The patient should receive a call back within 24 working hours by a medical professional to be given medical advice or alternatively referred to either a face-to-face appointment or remote consultation with a specialist. This ensures the patient gets to see the right healthcare worker at the right time.

Flight Sergeant Chris Workman MBE, Project Lead for Total Triage, said:

The health and welfare of our patients is our top priority, and the introduction of Total Triage is already seeing positive results in healthcare outcomes. Patients have reported positive feedback regarding the ease of submitting their request alongside the speedy delivery of their clinical outcome with some 4 week waiting lists being reduced to zero days.

Equally, staff are experiencing a boost as the Total Triage team have enjoyed a wider range of patient consultations, developed a distinct sense of camaraderie and a renewed pride in the delivery of joint healthcare for our patients.

This is based the innovative system used by NHS GP practices during the COVID19 pandemic, to ensure people could still receive medical advice when in person appointments were not possible. The concept was then adapted by the Defence Medical Services for use at medical centres, reducing unnecessary travel by patients as well as improving resilience across the regions as medical centres work collaboratively to improve patient outcomes. This has resulted in a reduced amount of appointment booking calls in the morning which lowers the pressure on reception staff and enables quicker patient treatment.

Director Defence Healthcare, Air Vice Marshal Dave McLoughlin, said:

The implementation of Total Triage has been a game changer for Defence Primary Healthcare. It has resulted in an overall reduction in waiting times for doctor and nurse appointments by nearly a third. This ensures that the right patient sees the right healthcare worker at the right time.

Providing safe and effective healthcare to the Armed Forces population is a priority for Defence. Witnessing the dedication of the teams delivering this initiative at scale and at pace, alongside the reports of high levels of patient and staff satisfaction is remarkable and inspiring. My sincere thanks to everyone who has worked hard to implement Total Triage.

This is part of wider programme of primary healthcare improvements set up by the Defence Medical Services to identify and deliver better healthcare to Armed Forces personnel, including the introduction of SMS appointment reminders and combining practices to increase access to medical services and resources.