Aims Aims included assessing the need for a care navigation intervention and creating a tool to help patients access care more efficiently. Further objectives were developing leadership and management skills as medical students and pursuing a role in service evaluation and improvement within the practice.

Methods GPs at the practice were experiencing a high demand for telephone consultations as well as face-to-face appointments. Although some were reserved for same-day booking, elderly patients were often disadvantaged due to the need to call early for an appointment. 110 triage telephone consultations were analysed which suggested that 43% of calls were misdirected, with pharmacists being the most overlooked alternative. A patient education flowchart was developed and presented to 9 patients to raise awareness of alternative healthcare providers and appropriate reasons to book appointments. Feedback was evaluated using questionnaires.

Results Although all patients were aware of some services pre-intervention, 89% said they were more aware of others post-intervention. Some patients suggested having services like Women’s Aid in the flowchart and having it both online and in-person.

Conclusions The needs analysis showed how education can help direct patients to appropriate healthcare providers. The flowchart was successful, but dissemination will be vital in future. Incorporating patient education into appointments may improve efficiency and the primary care network (34k people) intend to circulate the diagram. Care navigation benefits both practices and patients – potential benefits being patient satisfaction, empowerment and efficiency. Further, it may relieve GP workload and boost morale. The medical students involved also developed research and leadership skills by using quality improvement methodology. Leadership and management are vital for service improvement and there is great advantage to medical students designing and leading quality improvement projects.