Following a successful year, further funding for a One Care project to increase use of the NHS App has been secured.

The NHS App project, led by One Care and funded by the ICB, has been successful in achieving:

• 30% of BNSSG practices with an NHS App sign up rate of 67% and over of their patients – the highest rate in England
• an increase in the rate of take up of the App
• 5% increase in the number of people who switched their App notifications on – an extra 57,000 people
• an average reduction in practices’ SMS fragment usage rate from 2.38 to 2.35 – a saving of approximately £9,000

Morgan Daly, One Care’s deputy director of digital transformation, said: “Securing another year’s funding is great recognition of the achievements of this project.

“The team has worked hard to help practices and patients alike. We know that increased use of the App will not only help patients manage their care online, it will also help release valuable time for practices by giving patients access to their medical records, test results and the ability to order repeat prescriptions.”

The project has also promoted digital inclusion in the region and has recruited three local VCSE organisations to support this. The project team produced guides for using audio and translation services available in the App, and enrolled local libraries to provide warm spaces with access to devices, connectivity, and 1-2-1 support for patients from a digital champion​.

The next steps for the project are to:

• review the accessibility of the App promotional materials
• identify areas within BNSSG with low uptake of the App and understand the reasons for this
• explore how the App could be integrated with secondary care, such as mental health services
• look into how the different levels of functionality offered by different practices affect patients’ experiences

To find out more about how the NHS App can benefit your practice and patients please contact nhs.app@onecare.org.uk

Our digital team is here to help your practice make the most of your digital systems and innovative technology.

We can help improve your practice’s digital expertise, to make your processes more efficient and save you time and money. We offer our member practices free hands-on support, resources, and training to help the smooth running and development of your business.

We offer expertise across a range of digital systems, including:

• in-person training for EMIS and managed referral
• help with day-to-day TeamNet operational issues
• guidance on Black Pear, CareFlow Connect, and Resource Publisher

We have also developed a range of searches and protocols to help the working life of practices – all available here.

Join us at our latest digital roadshow – 23 May 2025, 10am-2.00pm, Arnos Manor Hotel, Bristol

As part of our support for practices, we host an annual digital roadshow. This is an opportunity for practice staff to

• meet tech suppliers in person
• enjoy live presentations and explore cutting edge technology
• meet the One Care digital team and find out more about the support we offer
• connect with your peers

The tech suppliers you’ll be able to meet include Heidi Health; X-on Health Ltd; Healthtec-1; eConsult; Accurx; Abrace; NHS SCWCS; Hippo Labs; Agilio Software; Klinik Healthcare Solutions; and GP Automate.

Lunch will be provided, and free parking is available. Please register here by Friday 2nd May. We look forward to seeing you there.

Let us know how we can support your practice: digital@onecare.org.uk

From 1^st April to 30^th June 2025, One Care’s HR services will be free to practices to assess the value in offering these services as part of member subscription.

One Care’s practice HR services cover a wide range of support, including:

• Employee relations support – assistance with managing employee stress, absence, and resolving problems
• Performance management support
• Disciplinary and grievance support – guidance, advice and attendance at disciplinary and grievances meetings.
• Advice related to employment termination
• Bespoke policies and letter templates
• Advice on contractual queries
• Mediation

Feedback about the service has been very positive, with one practice who has made use of One Care’s practice HR support commenting, “One Care supported us through two difficult HR processes, including a termination of contract. Gertruda and Lauren provided a fast and proficient service, their HR knowledge was excellent. They gave as sound and clear advice, as well as drafting letters for us. Thank you.”

One Care has received short-term funding to run this pilot. The subsequent inclusion of this support in the subscription fee will be contingent on sufficient uptake, so practices are highly encouraged to make use of it.

If you would like to make use of this free support, please contact One Care’s People Services.

Having an accessible, easily navigable website makes patients more likely to make it their first port of call for finding out information and getting in touch with their practice. As the healthcare system becomes increasingly digital, a usable website is more important than ever. Here are five top tips to make your practice’s website as usable for patients as possible.

Create an intuitive homepage and navigation bar layout

Studies by NHS England show the most important tasks to patients are being able to book, change, or cancel appointments; order repeat prescriptions; register with a practice; get a sick / fit note; get test results; and find out opening times and contact details. It’s therefore wise to have these links in the top third of your home page and in your navigation bar. However, don’t overload either of them – stick to what patients are looking for most often.

Check how your site looks on mobile browsers

The majority of people now access web content on their mobile phones. Check your site is still navigable via a mobile browser – ideally, get colleagues involved to check it on a variety of devices (older, newer, Apple, Android, etc).

Use an accessibility testing tool

The WAVE browser extension is a good starting point for picking up issues that people using screen readers might run into. Install the extension and look over your home page and frequently visited pages. If you see lots of errors, contact your website provider to try and resolve them. However, this doesn’t replace a full accessibility audit, which your website provider should be able to run.

Make sure your written content is readable to a range of patients

Did you know that the average reading age in the UK is approximately nine years old? Making sure the written content on your website is in plain English, free of jargon (including terms like ‘triage’ and ‘online consultation form’) will ensure as many people as possible understand the information, which can reduce unnecessary or confusing contacts. To test how readable your content is, try Hemingway.

NHS England also has some excellent templates for frequently visited pages, such as appointments and prescriptions, which you can adapt for your practice. (In fact, the whole guide is a brilliant resource for anyone looking to improve their practice website!)

Engage with your PPG

Your patients are the most valuable source of feedback – get their thoughts about how easy they find the website to use, and the changes they would like to see.

We hope you find these tips useful. If you’d like help to make your website more usable and accessible, contact Alasdair Wallace who will be happy to help.

Member practices told us they would like to have a named representative at One Care, who they could contact directly to ask questions, raise issues, or request support or advice.

In response to this, we’ve set up a ‘One Care contacts’ model, which sees members of the One Care team take responsibility for one or more member practices, being on hand to help with anything they may need.

That could be finding out the answer to a question, putting them in touch with a team at One Care who can help solve a problem, or giving direct assistance on something within their own expertise.

The model aims to build stronger, more consistent relationships between One Care and member practices, and enable them to access One Care’s services and programmes quickly and easily.

One Care’s Chief Operating Officer, Rachel Burton, said: “We hope our practice colleagues will find it helpful to be able to contact a specific person at One Care when they need something. Being able to build those personal, trusted relationships with members of our team will help members get the answers and support they want as effectively as possible.”

Members of our general practice and operations support team all have years of practice experience to draw on, and can help you remotely or will come into your practice to work with you directly.

The GPOS team’s work helps:

• support process optimisation
• improve efficiency
• manage, save or gain practices money
• release time for practices

If you ever have questions for One Care or need our help but are unsure who to contact, please email enquiries@onecare.org.uk and we’ll direct your enquiry to the right person, who will make sure you get the assistance you’re after.