Group Consultations - Shared Medical Appointments

Group Consultations – Shared Medical Appointments

Group consultations are a way for primary care practices to bring together individuals for support with long-term conditions, helping them to better manage their own health and share their experiences and learning.

Some of the key benefits of this method of consulting are:

For patients

For clinicians

Improved quality of care and access to care
Extra time with own doctor and more relaxed pace of care
Peer support and feedback from patients with similar conditions
Multidisciplinary care from a range of providers
Answers to questions they might not have thought to ask (because others in the group ask)
An additional healthcare choice
Greater self-management education, health literacy and attention paid to psychological issues

Taken from RCGP Shared medical appointments in the UK by Dr Rob Lawson (2014)

Increased physician productivity, quality and time/cost effectiveness (what would have been a 3-hour session for a clinician is reduced to 1 hour)
Better management of waiting lists (in addition there is a reduction of return visits)
Reduced repetition of information/advice
An opportunity to get off the fast-paced treadmill of individual visits Improved clinical income through cost containment
A chance to get to know patients better in an interactive setting, a reduced burden of care and increased clinician satisfaction
Real help from the multi-disciplinary team with the opportunity to coordinate multi-disciplinary care plans

“Group consultations enable people with the same condition to share their own, personal experiences of that condition (not something most healthcare professionals can do), to recognise the fact that they are not alone, and to support each other to deal with the condition through effective self-management. Group consultations can create an environment suitable for unrestricted dialogue and exchange beyond the ‘one clinician, one patient’ scenario, and can bring about insights and health outcomes that those individuals might not reach on their own.

Group consultations can replace standard consultations, such as an annual review. They are not extra to them, so they do not add to the workload but should, in fact, help to streamline it.” The case for general practice nurse-led group clinics