GPs

There are 25 GP practices in Knowsley caring for more than 170,000 patients and providing about 840,000 appointments each year.

Everyone in Knowsley should be registered with a GP practice. You can find a list of all Knowsley practices and contact information here.

GPs offer face to face appointments, telephone and video consultations alongside other options including home visits where appropriate.

All practices also offer an online consultation tool available during core hours to access advice, support or treatment. Patients are also able to access their GP medical record online. Please check with your practice how to do this.

Current picture

Around 70,000 GP appointments take place each week in Knowsley (as of November 2022) – this is actually more than took place before the pandemic.

Demand is incredibly high currently and GPs are increasingly seeing patients with complex needs and health conditions. At the same time, the numbers of GPs across the country – and in Knowsley – has declined over the last ten years which means, at times, residents may experience issues getting an appointment.

Specifically, we know from speaking to our residents and from data from GP Patient surveys that people are experiencing problems getting through to their GP practice. This can be frustrating and also distressing for people needing support.

What we are doing to help

Here in Knowsley work is taking place with GPs and other health professionals to address the issues being experienced.

Whilst there are no ‘quick fix’ solutions to some of the problems, partners in Knowsley are working together to improve experiences and outcomes.

All GP practices offer and promote to patients the following additional means of accessing advice, support or treatment:

• An online consultation tool available during core hours
• Online access for patients to their GP medical record
• A video consultation tool
• A secure electronic communication method
• An online facility to provide and update personal or contact information.
• The NHS App to access advice and support and to order repeat prescriptions
• All Knowsley GP practices now operate a triage system to direct people to the right support quickly. More work is ongoing with GPs to offer a consistent standard across practices and to improve communication with patients
• From October 2022, groups of GPs (Primary Care Networks of which there are three in Knowsley) are offering more appointments for residents who may struggle to attend appointments during working hours. Please check your local practice for information
• GPs are working together to recruit to additional roles such as social prescribers, pharmacists, physiotherapists and mental health workers to create more capacity and ease the pressure on GPs
• Improvements are being made to some practice websites and outbound communications to ensure clear and consistent messages are shared with patients
• More work is being done to measure the demand for telephone access at GPs during working hours to identify and address issues at peak times
• Improvements are being made to digital access for patients wishing to use these services
• Enhanced customer care training is being rolled out for some practice teams to improve patient experience