Healthcare professionals in NCL ICB have access to a range of elective care specialties for Enhanced Advice & Guidance (A&G) provided by out-of-area NHS consultants on the National Consultant Network (NCN), including messaging services for dermatology lesions and dermatology advice.
Many of the available specialties in North Central London, including dermatology, are provided by out-of-area NHS consultants on the National Consultant Network (NCN), and due to ever-increasing pressures on local services, the ability to receive comprehensive advice is vital.
The WGOS 4 guidance allows lower risk patients to be cared for within primary care who would have previously been referred to secondary care. This reduces the number of patients needing a hospital clinic appointment and ensures all patients receive the most appropriate care.
The National Consultant Network comprises out-of-area NHS consultants who support clinicians by providing Advice & Guidance via telephone and/or messaging, helping patients receive the right care in the right place the first time.
Since November 2024, clinicians within the Acute Medical Unit (AMU) have had the ability to seek specialist input from the Tissue Viability Team via Consultant Connect for wound management at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.
Accessed via the IG-secure Consultant Connect App, Bypass Numbers enables clinicians to utilise pre-programmed contact numbers for local GP surgeries, allowing them to skip the queue on the public switchboard and speak directly to practice staff for same-day emergency communications, speeding up patient care.
Consultant Connect’s Enhanced Advice & Guidance service enables Medway and Swale ICP clinicians to access rapid and secure specialist input via telephone and photo messaging from more than 30 specialties. Due to locally unavailable services, many of the specialties provided are delivered by out-of-area NHS consultants on the National Consultant Network (NCN).
The Tissue Viability Photo Messaging service enables clinicians within South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust to securely send high-quality patient images to the Tissue Viability Team.
A year on from the launch of the Suspected Head & Neck Cancer messaging service in North Central London ICB, we caught up with two clinicians to find out how the pathway has since progressed.
Our recent summer 2024 feedback survey found that 73% of WAST clinicians would recommend Consultant Connect to a colleague. We spoke with WAST EMT Shaun Martin-Brand to find out why his experience has been so positive.