‘The greatest benefit is to the patients who can often be given an appropriate alternative to having to wait in a crowded Emergency Department.’
Dr Andrew Russell is an A&E consultant at University Hospital Monklands, NHS Lanarkshire in Scotland. He makes outgoing calls via the Patient Connect service. The Patient Connect service was set up by Consultant Connect in December 2020, with the aim of getting patients the right care faster and first time. Patient Connect is Consultant Connect’s approach that allows patients and their carers to speak directly with clinicians. The system allows a clinician to ring a patient directly and tracks and records that call, including the call outcome.
Dr Gordon McNeish, another A&E consultant and the Consultant Connect project lead, explains the Patient Connect service:
‘Using Consultant Connect to contact patients directly, gives us the flexibility to work remotely, the confidence that calls are being recorded for governance, and the benefit of being able to rapidly analyse outcomes. The greatest benefit is to the patients who can often be given an appropriate alternative to having to wait in a crowded Emergency Department.’
Initial Patient Presentation
An elderly female patient in a nursing home had a fall, which resulted in a scalp wound. The wound had been managed by a staff nurse on site with steristrips but the wound needed further treatment. The nurse had phoned NHS 111 and been directed to the Flow Navigation Hub and told to wait for a call via Patient Connect. Dr Andrew Russell, an A&E consultant at University Hospital Monklands then phoned the nurse to discuss via Patient Connect. The patient would have required ambulance transfer both to and from hospital, so Dr Russell phoned the out-of-hours hub to get the number for the area district nurse.
The district nurse advised that they didn’t hold tissue glue and due to COVID-19 cases in the nursing home, was understandably reluctant to attend to the patient on-site. The district nurse recommended Lady Home Hospital, a local community hospital with all the equipment available on-site, which could be taken away.
Dr Russell spoke to a nurse from Lady Home Hospital, who checked the necessary supplies were available and was very happy to create a take-out wound kit for the patient. The nurse from the nursing home, then travelled to Lady Home Hospital to pick it up.
How Patient Connect helped:
Using the patient call-back service – Patient Connect via the Flow Navigation Hub resulted in a hospital transfer being avoided, which was a successful outcome for the patient. It also meant that the nurse from Lady Home Hospital did not have to visit the nursing home, preventing potential exposure to COVID-19.
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