GP Contract in 2026/27
NHS Criteria
Patient access to appointments and urgent care: Patient Triage
Key changes in the 2026-27 contract regarding patient access include:
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Urgent Access: Practices are required to offer same-day appointments to patients deemed clinically urgent.
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No Call-Back Policies: Practices are formally prohibited from asking patients to call back at a later date for an appointment.
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Non-Urgent Response: Non-urgent cases must be addressed by the end of the next working day.
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Digital Access: Online consultation systems are forbidden from capping the number of requests accepted during core hours.
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Appointment Booking: Practices are expected to offer multiple booking methods—phone, in-person, and online—to ensure fair access.
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The NHS will introduce a new requirement that patients identified as clinically urgent will be dealt with on the same day. It is for the GP practice to determine which patients are clinically urgent.
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For patients whose needs are assessed as non‑urgent, practices will be required to provide an appropriate response by the end of the next core hours period.
For non-urgent cases, this does not necessarily mean an appointment, but it does mean patients will know how their presenting issue will be managed and what the next steps are.
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The NHS will also make changes to the core contract to clarify that patients should not be asked to call the practice back and to explicitly require that online consultation systems must not cap the number of requests.
How the GP Practice Signposting & Care Navigation Toolkit MEETS the NHS criteria above WITHOUT using clinical time for triage
A Signposting and Care Navigation Toolkit for GP Practices that supports your staff book an appointment for your patient that is appropriate to their needs and specifically booking in same day urgent care appointments when appropriate. Covering all methods of contact by the patient, not just by telephone.
NO NEED FOR A CLINICIAN TO MANAGE THE TRIAGE REQUESTS.
This wastes valuable clinical time and resources that can be spent in front of the patients who need them.
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The Toolkit is a practice focused CLOUD BASED system:​
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The Toolkit is the script from your clinical team telling your patients what they need to do to access the care they need.
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Each Practice has its own dedicated Toolkit link
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The whole practice can use the link to access the content of the Toolkit
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All content is decided by the Practice Clinical & Management Team
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The Toolkit is FULLY amendable to become the script for the admin team to engage with patient enquiries
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There is no password access, so no staff details are taken
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No software downloads into the practice computer system
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No access at all to clinical systems
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No clinical decision-making by 3rd parties
This care navigation toolkit is your script for your staff to follow, and will make the delivery:
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More consistent to all patients,
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Supportive to staff so they have the information they need.
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Supportive to patients ensuring they get the right solution straight away.
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Please read some of the feedback from your colleagues who explain how their appointment demand has been transformed overnight.