The government is investing £240 million to digitise phone systems across the UK’s general practice (GP) surgeries.

Around 1000 GP surgeries have signed up to the scheme which will convert their analogue phone systems into digital.

It is expected that every practice in the UK will have the new phones in place by the end of the financial year.

The government said the new system, which it claims will help direct 40 per cent of requests more effectively, will make it easier for patients to book appointments and find out on the day how their request will be handled.

GP practices using older systems will receive an average investment of £60,000 each to replace their current systems with digital phones, with the funding also spent on giving access to updated digital tools and support for the transition.

Training for care navigators, who will operate the new digital phone system, has started and funding has been made for 6,500 professionals. This is the equivalent of one person per practice, who will then pass on the training to their colleagues.

The government has also committed £645 million to better utilise community pharmacies, with the hope that registered pharmacy technicians will be able to take on more responsibility and speed up the dispensing of medicines to patients.

“With the support of NHS England, general practices, pharmacies and dental surgeries, backed by significant investment from the government we will bring an end to the 8am scramble for appointments,” said Steve Barclay, health and social care secretary. “I’m delighted that over one thousand general practice surgeries will soon benefit from high tech designed to make booking an appointment as easy as possible for patients for years to come.”

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