CALDERDALE AND HUDDERSFIELD NHS
" Before COVID there was a fear that patients wouldn ' t have that richness of an experience through a virtual consultation , but actually we found that because they didn ' t need to park their car to come to an appointment , and sit for two hours in a waiting room when the clinic was over-running , their experience was better ."
The trust partnered with a company that integrated well with Teams and the EPR , making it possible to launch a virtual consultation from the appointment window . It improved both the patient and the clinicians ’ experience of Teams consultations . Mr Walsh says this made a big difference to user acceptance .
Through an existing partnership with St Vincent ' s Consulting , they developed a solution for the rapidly increasing patient backlog created by the pandemic . The tool integrates with the EPR and allows clinicians to view a list of cancelled appointments , check the patients ’ record and make informed decisions on their follow up based on clinical need . Additionally , the trust is having conversations with the company about an end-to-end solution to make the outpatient experience in the hospital more efficient .
The trust has also been exploring the use of wearable technology to try and improve post-operative care . " This speeds up their discharge and reduces their need for face-to- face follow up with therapy services as they can be monitored remotely and communicate through a dashboard . This allows therapy services to focus on those patients that need their input and allow them to act at an early stage identifying issues before they become problems .”
Patients can wear a device that monitors their postoperative range of movements and compliance with their recovery goals . Walsh says that outcomes have actually improved since doing this monitoring remotely . " It ' s interesting that the NHS is looking at the work
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