HealthHarmonie holds extensive experience in providing capacity and wait list support with the NHS. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, there has been an increased challenge in ensuring patients are accessing the care that they need within target wait times. In 2020, HealthHarmonie were awarded a place on the NHS England Increasing capacity framework, enabling us to offer support to NHS Trusts in recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
What The Challenge Was
UHCW approached HealthHarmonie seeking capacity support for a backlog of patients requiring surgery procedures. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Trust had been unable to offer patients appointments. As part of the recovery process, there was a national focus on rapid reduction in wait lists. HealthHarmonie is part of the NHS England Increasing Capacity Framework and therefore has undergone vetting to ensure we are a compliant, suitable provider.
How We Developed Our Solution
We conducted an initial scoping meeting with the Trust, the aim of this was to determine what areas there were challenges, and how we could respond in the most efficient way. From the scoping meeting, we developed a proposal for support which detailed what capacity we could give, the staffing available, and how we could ensure the best access for patients. After providing a proposal, we then met with the Trust and the clinical teams to discuss pathways, patient criteria and how the service would meet local need.
How We Mobilised
We scoped out the service and sourced activity numbers, as well as the types of activities. We used the same approach when finding the suitable locations and staff against activity and locality to source sites and clinicians. We confirmed each of the pathways with the trust itself, including the transfer pathways. Then got patients booked in and received receipts for each one. The mobilisation timeframe itself took place over the course of 3 weeks.
What The Results Were
As a result of the operation, we were able to assist by achieving the following:
430 patients transferred into HealthHarmonie
400 patients accepted by HealthHarmonie
400 patients attended for a procedure within 6 weeks of mobilisation
Through this work, we have been able to offer local appointments outside of the Trust for patients which has increased accessibility locally. Our highly experienced and skilled dermatology team worked with the Trust dermatology team, in line with their policies to deliver the same standard of care and ensure consistency for patients. Our work has allowed UHCW to allocate their resource in order to provide treatment of complex cases.
If you would like to discuss how we could help your Trust or CCG with wait time challenges, then please go to our contact page to get in touch: www.healthharmonie.com/contactus