Investing in Access and Listening to Feedback 

Like many GP surgeries across the country, we are currently facing ongoing challenges in meeting the demand on our telephone lines. Between 08:00am and 10:00am we can often have around 160 calls to answer, and between 400 to 500 calls in any day. This volume of calls impacts how long patients have to wait and how quickly we can respond to patient requests.

To help improve this situation and ensure that all our patients continue to receive timely and fair access to care, we are introducing a new solution: "EMMA," our virtual receptionist.

What is EMMA?

• EMMA is a new, intelligent phone system that will answer all incoming calls to the practice. She will guide you through a few simple steps and help you submit your request using our existing online consultation platform, ACCURX.

How does this benefit you? 

• EMMA will ensure every patient who phones the practice has the same access to our services as someone using the online ACCURX tool directly. 
• You won’t need to wait on hold to speak to a receptionist, EMMA will help you get your request in quickly and efficiently. 
• EMMA is also available in 18 languages, other than English: Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu.
• Your request; whether medical, administrative, or about repeat prescriptions, will go directly to a doctor, meaning there’s no need to explain personal or sensitive issues to our reception team. 
• Our clinical and administrative teams will be able to focus more time on processing and responding to your needs, rather than juggling phone duties. 
• A fairer, more efficient system for all. 

This change helps us tackle digital exclusion by offering everyone, whether you’re comfortable online or prefer to call, a consistent and accessible way to reach us. With EMMA handling incoming calls, we can better manage our workload behind the scenes and focus on delivering the care and support you need.

We kindly ask for your support and patience as we implement this new system. By using EMMA and the ACCURX tool, you will be helping us to keep services running smoothly and to make the best use of the limited resources we have. 

EMMA will be rolled out starting Monday 8 June 2026, but may not be switched on all the time, in the first week, as we embed the software. 

We hope that by the following week she will be fully up and running. 

There will be further information on the Practice website and on posters within the Practice.

Our goal is to provide the highest standard of care, and your cooperation is vital in helping us do that during this challenging time.

Published: May 19, 2026