“Dr Holden could rapidly organise a short hospital admission, with the full involvement of the patient in that process, to ensure they got the right care quickly and efficiently and an overnight stay in hospital was avoided.”
Dr Samuel Holden has been a GP for 20 years, he currently works at Castlefields Surgery in NHS Stafford and Surrounds CCG.
In the past Dr Holden has used various different methods to get specialist advice including emails, leaving a message and waiting on the phone for the paged doctor on-call. However, he now finds rapid Telephone Advice & Guidance via the Consultant Connect App a better tool due to:
“The speed of the service and easy to use app.”
Dr Holden would encourage his colleagues to use the service, he explained:
“The Consultant Connect App is very easy to use, it’s basically a quick phone line and it’s not complicated or confusing to fill in data. I’d suggest putting the app on the first home page on your mobile phone screen, as a reminder to use it.”
He provided the following example of when he used Telephone Advice & Guidance to help a patient with end of life care:
Dr Holden had a visit from a patient with end-stage heart failure. The patient was adamant that he did not want to go into hospital, for fear of dying there. Dr Holden felt that he should have a very short hospital admission to correct a developing iron deficiency anaemia. Both Dr Holden and the patient did not want an investigation and treatment of the cause, but just for the patient to feel better, so he could get home to die as he wished.
How Telephone Advice & Guidance helped the patient:
The patient was still in the consultation room when Dr Holden used the Consultant Connect App to speak, without a long wait, with the on-call medical registrar. The patient was able to hear Dr Holden’s admission call and his request for a quick in and out admission. The patient was sent to hospital to receive IV iron that night and was able to go home to sleep and return to hospital the next day for a blood transfusion.
How Telephone Advice & Guidance helped the GP:
Using Telephone Advice & Guidance in this way, meant that the Dr Holden could rapidly organise a short hospital admission, with the full involvement of the patient in that process, to ensure they got the right care quickly and efficiently and an overnight stay in hospital was avoided. Dr Holden told us that his patient was “very satisfied with the process.”
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