In the last 12 months, over 25,000 photos have been taken and shared by the dermatology team at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (NHS) via Consultant Connect:

‘Dermatology services are changing, and some patients will have their procedures performed by community providers. So, having a system like Consultant Connect will add a layer to the Swiss cheese model and help perform safer surgery.’ Find out more.

‘The benefits of Consultant Connect lie in the rapid advice available via the service. When Community practitioners call the SDEC line, it helps ensure the patients are then signposted to the right place.
All the data, including call volumes and outcomes, are captured when clinicians use the service, which is really helpful to support in developing the service or providing feedback.’ Find out more.

‘The similarities between advice from a local consultant and an out-of-area consultant are greater than the differences! What Primary Care clinicians will receive is a sense of how urgent the problem is, and it’s usually a lot less urgent than they initially thought. We provide them with reassurance and advice that will often allow them to manage the patient in a Primary Care setting without needing to refer them to Secondary Care.’ Find out more.

‘As a paramedic, I am allowed to make autonomous clinical decisions and discharge patients, however, this hasn’t stopped me from using Consultant Connect, and I still find it a fantastic option for obtaining clinical support which ensures our patients get signposted to the most appropriate option for their conditions. The service ensures that I am not delayed at the scene with a patient and that a patient does not attend hospital unnecessarily.’ Find out more.

Many older people living with frailty are conveyed to hospital by ambulance but then turn out not to need hospital care. The Silver Triage initiative in North Central London aims to ensure more older people living with frailty receive urgent care in their home setting, if this is safe and in keeping with their wishes and preferences. This initiative has reduced patient conveyances for older people from 75% to 20%. Find out more.

‘The Consultant Connect system is brilliant, we wouldn’t be without it. Managing frailty is vitally important for any acute hospital, and enabling paramedics to speak with consultants quickly has changed everything.’ Find out more.

‘The service via Consultant Connect has enabled us to have a dedicated staff member to answer calls from practitioners about patients before a potential referral. We can screen in those who are appropriate for the service and offer bespoke support packages for those who aren’t. We can give general advice and guidance for those referrals and ascertain more information as needed. This is so beneficial for the patients as it puts them at the heart of the conversation as opposed to passing them onto another service. The patient receives person-centred support, tailored just for them.’ Find out more.

In 2019, feedback from mental health clinicians at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) was received that communication delays and access to specialist acute advice were creating a barrier to providing mental and physical healthcare. As a result, Telephone A&G provided by Consultant Connect was launched to aid mental health clinicians in seeking advice in the same way it is available for clinicians in Primary Care. Telephone A&G provided by Consultant Connect is now embedded into routine practice in SLaM, two years after it originally launched, with over 500 clinicians from 16 professional groups registered for the Consultant Connect App. More than 70% of A&G queries resulted in the patient receiving physical health care from mental health clinicians, avoiding referrals or transfers. Find out more.

‘I recently received a call from a patient’s mum who stated that the patient was expressing suicidal thoughts, which had happened previously. Their mum was really worried, and the call came through towards the end of the day, so I needed rapid advice. I called the MHAU line via Consultant Connect and discussed the patient with the specialist, and we quickly devised a patient management plan. The specialist advised me on actions to take in the interim as well as a follow-up plan for later down the line. As a result of this call, I was able to give the patient and their mum a definitive plan which they were happy with, and the prompt response put them at ease.’ Find out more.