News

Argyll and Bute have been successful in securing a year's trial of Phio Access and it is now live. It is a clinically-led digital MSK triage support tool which can be accessed at any time of the day, for people with a MSK condition. For those who have not heard of Phio I have attached a short video which explains the system.  The aim is that patients will access this service as their first port of call before phoning the practice for an appointment.

The trial has been up and running in North Highland since the beginning of the year and it is having some really good outcomes and results. We will also be collecting and analysing our own data and will be able to feed this back through our steering group and the primary care programme board.

The possible outcomes from the service are

Patient is able to go on to self-management and can access Phio engage
The patient requires a face to face appointment and is advised to make an appointment at their GP practice 
There are possible red flags and the patient is advised to call 111

It is not taking away the valuable face to face FCP service in GP practices but it is a step towards providing a more equitable service across Argyll and Bute and helping to manage demand in practices where the demand for MSK conditions is more than the capacity in both FCP and GP services. There will be those patients who a digital service will not be suitable for and we are not removing any service already in place but hopefully enhancing the service with an additional service that patients can access at any time