More hospital appointments to be done by video and phone
FACE-TO-FACE CONSULTATIONS MUST REDUCE BY 30 PER CENT BY 2024
MORE hospital appointments in Coventry and Warwickshire will be carried out by video and phone as part of a target to reduce face-to-face consultations.
Platforms such as Skype could become the norm as hospital bosses have been told to reduce face-to-face consultations by 30 per cent by 2024.
A health scrutiny board at Coventry City Council was told of the plan on Wednesday, October 30, which has been recommended following national trials.
Rachael Danter, system transformation director for Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership, said the focus would be on using video or phone calls for ‘routine follow-ups,’ rather than new patients.
Coventry councillor Lindsley Havard questioned whether the drive was led by “the desire to save money”, and whether there could be “unintended consequences”.
But Ms Danter said the idea is to cut down on “unnecessary hospital visits” and that decisions on video and phone appointments would be made by the patient themselves.
She said: “Bringing patients into a hospital setting is not the right thing to do if they do not need to be there - on a number of levels.
“You are inconveniencing the patient, potentially putting them at risk of catching infection. This is built on evidence from other areas of the country.
“There are certain categories of patients that do not need to be seen routinely, we bring them into hospitals as it is the historic way of care.
“The outcome is saving you money, but the reason you are doing it is because you don’t want to be bringing them into hospital and making them travel unnecessarily.
“We are trying to prevent any unnecessary attendances as much as possible.”
Providing an example of how it could be used, Ms Danter highlighted how
Andy Hardy, CEO of University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust
cancer patients are routinely seen on a pattern of six months to a year.
She said: “There’s now evidence that those consultations might not be necessary and if patients want to see a doctor they can, but busy patients who come back every year to be told I’m fine - do they need to see a doctor?
“So there’s an opportunity to give them a choice and if they feel they don’t need to come back every year we are happy to support that choice.
“It is evidence based and a target we will deliver over the five years. It will not be cut straight away it will be a slow trajectory.”
Andy Hardy, CEO of University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, said many people taking part in the trials nationally carry out appointments “using their phones or iPad”.
“A lot of this is generational,” Ms Danter added.
“As the younger generations come through the system they will use technology in a different way.”
The drive forms part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Strategic Five Year Health and Care Plan 2019/20-2023/24, with final submission of the plans made by November 15.