What if we get buried in unnecessary emails and calls?

This is a common fear, but it doesn’t happen.  We have not seen demand consistently rise in any practice, indeed we’ve seen it flatten and in many cases fall by 10-15% over the first year to 18 months.  We have measured askmyGP online submissions and seen the replacement of telephone demand. We measure specifically the GPs view on whether a consultation “should have been self care” and it remains about 3% on average before and after the change.  There are a few exceptions of course, but once patients have confidence that the doctor is easy to call, they don’t call just in case, they only call in time of need.  For further evidence over 2 years, see our RCGP conference poster 2014.