“Without Consultant Connect, the patient would have had to go back to the emergency department and would have had to wait to be seen.” Dr Pande
Dr Pande works at The Tickhill and Colliery Practice in Doncaster. Primary care clinicians in this area have had access to Telephone Advice & Guidance, which is commissioned by NHS Doncaster CCG and provided by Consultant Connect, since summer 2017. They can also take IG compliant clinical photos on their mobiles using the Consultant Connect App.
Dr Pande likes using Telephone Advice & Guidance and comments that;
“Consultant Connect helps us to make a good, informed judgement on best management and whether or not to refer a patient to hospital.”
We asked Dr Pande to elaborate on how she has used Telephone Advice & Guidance to benefit her patients. She provided the following clinical example showing how the service enabled her to provide a high standard of patient care.
“Over the last 12 months, a patient from our practice attended the emergency department due to foot pain. The patient had an x-ray which confirmed that a bone wasn’t broken and was discharged from the emergency department.
A short time later, the patient returned to the practice with the same issue. The x-ray report identified the possibility of a foreign body in the foot and rather than sending the patient back to the emergency department, Consultant Connect was used to speak directly with a specialist.”
How Telephone Advice & Guidance helped:
“The Consultant was able to review the images and quickly organised a repeat x-ray and follow up appointment for the patient. Without Consultant Connect, the patient would have had to go back to the emergency department and would have had to wait to be seen. Going direct to a pre-arranged appointment with a specialist made best use of both patient and hospital time. This meant the patient received the care and treatment they needed in a more streamlined and effective way.”
Click here to view and download PDF version of this case study.
