CATCH-US ON PATCHS

PATCHS is our new and improved Online Consultation Service and offers a secure, simple and flexible way for patients to quickly and easily contact the Practice.  It has being selected as the safest and most user-friendly online consultation service across all General Practices in Wakefield. This should not be used for emergencies when you should contact 999 or visit A&E. You should also still order your normal repeat prescriptions through your Patient Online account, not PATCHS.

PATCHS provides lots of benefits to patients including being able to make requests in your own time, avoiding telephone queues and waiting room queues, and gets you a quick responses. PATCHS can also help patients who struggle to contact the Practice using either by telephone or in-person; this includes patients who have hearing or speaking impairments, anxiety, and who speak English as a second language.

To make access to online consultations more equitable to patients who do not speak English as their first language, patients can choose what language they see in PATCHS from a dropdown menu of more than 30 of the most commonly spoken non-English languages. When a patient chooses a non-English language, all the text in PATCHS is translated in to English for our staff to understand. Accuracy cannot be guaranteed so if you have any concerns about the accuracy of the translation that PATCHS provides, please contact us directly.

How it works

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Why are we using PATCHS?

We are using PATCHS because it:

• integrates with our GP health record system (SystmOne) – this will improve patient safety and save staff time 
• offers ‘safety net’ features that will immediately advise patients when putting in requests to contact 999 or 111 in the case of emergency – this will improve patient safety
• provides options for sending text messages or other questionnaires to patients within PATCHS rather than needing to link to other computer systems to achieve this – this will save staff time
• is able to ‘automatically’ code any of the information that is put into the patient record – this will improve patient safety and save staff time
• allows patients to track where their request is up to – this will be a benefit to patients and save staff time handling patient queries 

Is it secure?

Text messages sent by PATCHS that contain patient information are sent safely and securely. When receiving a text for the first time from PATCHS the text will appear similar to this example below:

Once you open the text from PATCHS it will appear similar to this example below:

When you click on the hyperlink within the text message, you will be asked to log in via your NHS app, or if you have an account with PATCHS it will ask you to sign in with your username and password to read the message.

How do I get started with PATCHS?

1. Create an account for PATCHS by clicking on this link https://patchs.ai/practice/maybushmedicalcentre (you can also access this link from our home page). You’ll be asked to enter your email address and set a password, or alternatively you can access PATCHS via your NHS App.
2. Once you have created an account, you can access PATCHS by clicking the link on the homepage of our website or by opening the PATCHS app on your smartphone. Login by entering your email address & password created
3. Choose the appropriate option and answer a few simple questions to help your GP understand your problem
4. Your answers are sent to our GPs who will respond to you within 3 working days…more often than not its the very same day! 🙂 If the GP decides you need a face-to-face appointment this will be arranged for you as necessary