Tudor Lodge gets back 3 sessions per week with Asterix Health

At a Glance

• Practice size: 11,000 patients
• Location: South West London (SW19)
• CQC Rating: Good
• Challenge: GP capacity consumed by abnormal lab management and patient callbacks
• Solution: Remote GMC-registered GPs taking complete end-to-end ownership of the workstream
• Key result: 3-4 GP Sessions freed within four weeks, 30% cost savings, 80% of abnormal labs managed remotely by Asterix

The Challenge

Tudor Lodge Health Centre is an 11,000-patient practice in South West London with a track record of early adoption in areas such as digital telephony, normal labs automation, and external triage partnerships.

But abnormal lab management remained a persistent drain. A productivity analysis completed by Asterix revealed the practice was spending approximately three GP sessions per week on abnormal results: filing, reviewing, and managing patient callbacks. At £110/hour all-in, that's over £72,000 a year in clinical time diverted away from patients.

Prash, the managing partner, knew what he needed. Not another tool that assisted with parts of the problem. A solution that could own the entire workstream end-to-end so his GPs could focus on the work only they can do.

He also had a non-negotiable requirement: clinical quality from day one. As an early test site for other healthtech products, CQC compliance wasn't a future consideration. It was the starting point.

The Solution

Asterix Health proposed a focused one-month pilot covering abnormal labs and patient callbacks exclusively.

The critical difference from previous solutions: this wasn't software. It was clinical workforce - GMC-registered GPs working remotely via NHS-approved virtual desktop infrastructure, taking full responsibility for the workflow end-to-end rather than supporting it from a distance.

And it wasn't another locum. Asterix Doctors become embedded members of the practice team. They follow local guidance and practice ways of working, and attend clinical meetings if requested by the practice. Each doctor works with a maximum of two practices to ensure learnings are embedded and the practice benefits from the continuity of working with the same team.

Implementation was structured to build confidence quickly:

• Pre-launch (2 weeks): DPIA and DPA signed off by the practice DPO within four days. Asterix's Clinical Operations Lead worked directly with the practice management team to define workstreams and escalation pathways, then onboarded two dedicated doctors trained specifically for Tudor Lodge.
• Weeks 1–2: Started at 50% of abnormal lab panels. Every task audited clinically and operationally, with regular check-ins and sign-off from Tudor Lodge's clinical lead.
• Weeks 2–4: After consistent quality was demonstrated, the first doctor was cleared for autonomous work. By week four, both doctors were signed off for the 5% ongoing audit standard.

Weekend coverage was only added once quality was established on weekdays. No big-bang transformation - systematic, audited expansion at a pace the practice controlled.

The Results

Within four weeks:

• 3–4 GP sessions freed per week from abnormal lab filing and patient callbacks
• 30% cost reduction compared to internal GP delivery, while care continued to be delivered by GPs
• 80% of abnormal labs managed remotely by the end of the pilot
• 100% audit in weeks 1–2 confirmed consistent adherence to practice SOPs, with smooth escalation to face-to-face or A&E where needed

The time recovered wasn't just a cost saving. It was clinical capacity redirected — towards complex decision-making, locally enhanced services, and protecting partner work-life balance.

Prash put it simply: "The Asterix Team has already improved its service by launching a new SLA and exploring data analytics infrastructure that lets us see what the doctors are doing. We're also looking at some of the additional services that Asterix can provide, including documents processing and acute consultation clinics."

What Made It Work

For practices considering something similar, Tudor Lodge's experience points to four things that mattered most:

Start focused. A time-limited pilot on one workstream - not a wholesale transformation - meant quality could be proven before scope expanded.

Audit heavily upfront. The 100% audit in weeks 1–2 wasn't bureaucracy. It was the mechanism that built enough trust to scale quickly. Practices that skip this step spend months in uncertainty instead.

Activity-based pricing removes the risk. Tudor Lodge only paid for completed work. No commitment risk, no productivity gap during ramp-up.

Ownership, not assistance. The difference between marginal gains and real capacity relief is whether the provider owns the workflow or merely supports it. Asterix took complete responsibility. That's what made the GP time genuinely recoverable.

What's Next for Tudor Lodge

Following the pilot, Prash expanded Asterix's scope from 50% to 80% of labs filed. The practice is now exploring documents processing and acute consultation clinics as the next workstreams to transition.

The model is simple: GPs focused on the clinical work only they can do. Everything else, systematically handed off to doctors qualified to own it.

About Asterix Health

Asterix Health provides remote GP-led clinical services to NHS practices, taking complete end-to-end ownership of high-volume workstreams including abnormal lab management, documents processing, and acute consultation clinics.

If you're spending GP time on work that could be managed remotely - and want to see what a structured, audited pilot looks like for your practice, get in touch.