NHS England’s Elective Care Transformation Programme exists to help manage rising patient demand as efficiently as possible. The Programme tests innovations very quickly over a period of 100 days to see if they work. If they do, great! If they don’t, they “fail fast”, meaning an endless budget isn’t swallowed (this is a well-known approach borrowed from Silicon Valley, USA). Successful innovations that work in practice are included in the programme’s handbook.
We’re very pleased that our project in Somerset has been featured in the Programme’s Gastroenterology Elective Care Handbook & Case Studies.
Somerset Gastroenterology Elective Care 100-Day Challenge
The Challenge:
Somerset’s specialist Gastroenterology Team reported that they were seeing a number of people who, with the right support, could have been managed in Primary Care instead.
The Solution:
The team wanted a service that could be used by Primary Care clinicians to access rapid telephone advice from a specialist, in order to reduce inappropriate referrals and manage patients more effectively in Primary Care. Consultant Connect was already used in 71 GP practices in Somerset for advice in other specialties, so the Gastroenterology Team decided Consultant Connect would be the best option.
Making it work:
A gastroenterology consultant and business manager developed a rota to ensure there was always a specialist available to answer calls during working hours. The rota consisted of four gastroenterology consultants at Yeovil District Hospital.
Delivery & Results:
The team identified that Primary Care uptake was key to the success of this intervention; the pathway was emailed to all GP practices via an ICB bulletin.
Consultant Connect went live on 3 April 2017, and as of 3 July, 13 calls had been made to the service:
- The average call wait was 52 seconds
- The average call duration was 4 minutes and 23 seconds
As of day 100, 13 calls from Primary Care had been received, with a referral avoided for 54% of calls.
For more information about this project, email hello@consultantconnect.org.uk or call us on 01865 261467.
