It is undoubtedly proven that Advice & Guidance (A&G) avoids unnecessary hospital visits. However, for A&G to be truly effective, specialists need to manage the workload and reply promptly and reliably.
As well as helping clear backlogs, triage outcomes highlighted where existing pathways were helping patients access the right care, and where there were opportunities for pathway re-design.
Our Referral Triage and Clinical Validation service uses the expertise of NHS consultants who work remotely as ‘virtual locums’ to triage referral backlogs in bulk and new referrals as they come in.
In this article, we share examples of how virtual clinical capacities are supporting NHS areas across the UK relieve pressures on local teams and improve patient care.
Consultant Connect’s clinically-led Referral Triage and Validation service supports specialty teams to reduce their waiting list backlogs in bulk and/or new referrals as they come in.
In this article, we share an example of how our consultant-led Referral Triage and Validation service is being used to reduce neurology waiting lists.
Kat James, Managing Director at Consultant Connect, shares her thoughts on tackling NHS waiting lists and explains how the company is supporting NHS trusts to reduce their waiting lists using remote consultants.
Several Trusts are coming to us for triage capacity support, knowing they are at risk of failing to meet targets – some with 52-week waits back on the scene.
Following the success of our initial referral triage pilot in January 2024 where 1,000 neurology referrals were triaged in one NHS hospital, the service expanded through to March 2025 with more than 3,000 neurology referrals triaged.
Delivered by NHS consultants on the National Consultant Network (NCN), our clinically led service provides virtual management plans for long waiters or new referrals and has proven to reduce waiting lists by 33% on average, even more in some specialties. Find out more.