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Introduction
Recent changes in National Insurance (NI) contributions are about to place additional financial strain on GP practices. With budgets already stretched, many practices wonder how they can manage rising costs while continuing to deliver high quality care.
Difficult decisions as NI Increase on GP Practices looms
The increase in NI contributions is almost certain to mean higher employment costs, affecting both clinical and administrative staff. For GP practices, which often operate on tight margins, this could mean tough decisions regarding staffing, patient services, or investment in new resources.
Currently employers contributed 13.8% per employee to National Insurance. However, the rate will increase to 15% from April 5, 2025. The employer NIC threshold will also fall from £9,100 a year to £5,000 a year.
Many GP practices operate on a fixed income under the NHS General Medical Services (GMS) or Primary Care Networks (PCNs) contracts.
These contracts provide limited scope for practices to increase their income to offset rising costs, which is likely to mean that they will struggle unless adjustments to funding from the NHS or other government bodies are made to account for higher NI contributions.
This could lead to cuts in discretionary spending, such as investment in new technologies, staff training, or expanding services and/or cuts to non-essential staff or hours to balance the books.
The Case for Digital Solutions
These approaches could mean patients experiencing longer waiting times, with fewer available appointments, or reduced access to certain services. This is particularly likely at smaller or rural surgeries, if they’re already operating on narrow margins.
But this is where digital transformation can play a crucial role.
By streamlining administrative processes and improving operational efficiency, healthcare digital solutions offer a way to offset increased costs while maintaining or even enhancing patient care.
Key Areas of Savings and Efficiency
- Reducing Administrative Burden: Automated appointment bookings, digital triage systems and efficient patient communications can free up valuable staff time
- Improving Patient Flow: Tools like real time dashboards and integrated patient records ensure seamless patient management, reducing wait times and enhancing care delivery
- Enhancing Remote Access: Teleconsultations and secure patient portals reduce the need for physical visits, saving on operational costs
Real World Results
Silicon Practice was founded in 2004 with the aim of transforming patient access to primary care by providing user-friendly websites and many of our clients have reported significant improvements in efficiency and cost savings.
Black Country ICB’s 29 practices cut the number of practice visits and phone calls by 34.7k in their first year since adopting FootFall.
The case study also reveals that in one winter season nearly 78,000 forms were submitted to Black Country ICB practices – each one representing a patient who didn’t need to wait on the phone or visit their surgery’s reception.
What’s more doctors can use the forms to respond to patients, seeking further information, requesting photos or documents, and being able to start a video consultation within seconds.
Digital Integration moves to the next level
Development of the FootFall dashboard continues so now EHR integration means that healthcare episodes can be sent directly to the patient record.
Over 50 forms are available, many complete with in-built SNOMED-CTC coding, including New Patient Registration and various health review questionnaires.
Forms are configured to be rerouted to workflows/streams for either specific staff members or groups, while staff members and carers can complete forms on behalf of patients.
During busy times forms can be deactivated, redirecting patients. This process can be automated during practice closures.
One of our latest initiatives is the Weight Management Form, which is designed to seamlessly align with the NHS Weight Management Programme, and Ehubs are an increasingly popular way of enhancing collaborative working.
Meeting NHS Requirements
Silicon Practice’s Foundation had a digital-first approach, designed with inclusivity in mind by adhering to the latest NHS standards
and being WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.NHS benchmarking is growing in importance for online digital healthcare. Silicon Practice’s Foundation sites lead the way on this, being expected to achieve 96% or better of the ‘Well’ NHS benchmarking rating at launch.
Security takes Priority
Of course, being user friendly is meaningless without a no-compromise attitude to data security.
You can trust us to keep your and NHS patient data safe and secure. Read more about our data security accreditations and how we protect data online.
Looking Ahead
Investing in digital solutions not only helps address immediate financial pressures but also positions your practice for future challenges, ensuring resilience in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.
Silicon Practice can ease any worries about digital adoption, having years of experience in providing online training for staff so that employees can work with the FootFall dashboard confidently and happily.
You can be confident of a quick and efficient response from our support team. Our helpdesk has a customer satisfaction score of over 98% in 2024 so far – take a look at some of our five star reviews.
Next Steps
GP surgeries are almost certain to face increased cost pressures from 2025 and will need to navigate them carefully to avoid compromising patient care.
If you want to learn more about how our solutions can help your practice cope don’t hesitate to contact us.