September 2020​

How the unthinkable...triggered the unimaginable...

...who would have imagined the idea of the NHS offering more options for remote consultation and looking to move to a digital first approach, but with Covid it’s taken on a real urgency and led to new demand for across the county.

Read more in our newsletter.

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May 2020​

Supporting restarting the NHS...

As the NHS looks for a recovery or a restart, we reflect on that past few months and how our future will look under the ‘new norm’

 

This week there can be no doubts: thoughts have turned to what the NHS does after this first wave of COVID. It’s going to be challenging, as COVID won’t be gone, it’s going to be with us for the foreseeable. On top of that, hospitals and GPs are going to be dealing with the backlog:

 

• Demand for services will include the normal demand plus any backlog built up in the lockdown period

• The increase in demand will not only be seen in elective care, but in urgent care too as delayed elective cases become more urgent

• 2WW Referrals will return rapidly and will need to be prioritised

• The impact of an increase in demand will be compounded by a backlog of leave as clinicians take holiday, they cancelled during lockdown

 

 

So…yes… it’s going to be tough! But there’s a positive, too. In the past two months the NHS has modernised faster and more profoundly than at any time in its history. The technologies it has adopted are ready to be applied to the new challenges we face. A situation that would appear impossible using the old ways of working can be solved through new ways of working:

 

• VIRTUAL CLINICS – all clinics and follow ups to be done virtually if possible

• FOLLOW-UP MONITORING – technology enables patient-initiated follow-up consultations

• CLINICAL PRIORITISATION – technology allows referral assessment and triaging to manage demand, reducing risk

• SAFE DISCHARGE EARLIER – communication and hand-over technology helps get patients safely discharged

• ADVICE AND GUIDANCE – where care might be kept in the community using our tele-medicine product and remote access for patients.

• VIRTUAL CARE HOME CLINICS – providing regular or daily care to those that need it and reducing traffic in these settings keeping the NHS safe.

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The services helps support the NHS Long Term Plan commits to reducing face-to-face outpatient appointments by up to a third over the next five years.

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So, in 2020 will emerge the new NHS, and Clinical Partnership are excited to be part of this…