THE NURSE WILL SEE YOU NOW... VIRTUALLY
Hospital patients benefit from online clinics
MORE than 2,000 patients have taken part in ‘virtual’ consultations at two Staffordshire hospitals.
‘Attend Anywhere’ means people can have video consultations from home so their care continues without interruption.
Once patients log onto the system, there is a virtual waiting room where patients can ‘sit’ and wait for their appointment. They are then ‘called in’ by their clinician and the consultation begins.
The new digital system was launched in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic by University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM), which runs Royal Stoke and County Hospital in Stafford.
So far, 90 per cent of the patients who have used it felt it was easy to access, their needs were met and they were able to communicate well.
Now more than 30 clinical services are using Attend Anywhere (AA) to deliver video consultations as part of regular clinics.
Cystic fibrosis clinical nurse specialist Laura Barlow has used the system and can vouch for its success. She said: “When one of my patients logged on to Attend Anywhere recently, it became apparent that they needed to be admitted urgently. This was clear to me because I was able to see them.
“Thanks to AA, we were able to very quickly arrange for the patient to be reviewed by a consultant, brought into hospital and begin treatment and this may have played a role in saving the patient’s life.”
The system is entirely web-based, meaning that patients do not need to download additional apps in order to use the service. Once their consultation is over, patients are asked to complete a short survey about their experience so that effectiveness and satisfaction can be measured.
Consultant cardiologist and deputy medical director, Dr Grant Heatlie, said: “Patients are telling us that they feel supported and that they like being able to see the team, rather than just talk on the phone.
“Staff have even noticed that patients are writing down notes during consultations, which they wouldn’t have done face-to-face. They feel the virtual clinics save them time and stress travelling to the hospital and they would like to be able to continue with virtual appointments in the future, postCovid.
“Being able to see a patient rather than just talk to them helps to enhance the doctor and patient relationship enormously. The project started because of Covid-19, but I expect we may continue to use this method of consultation well into the future.”
Chief operating officer Paul Bytheway added: “The virtual clinic system is a brilliant development because it’s making sure patient care continues from the safest environment possible – their own homes.
“However, we do want to stress that the appointment slots taken by patients via this system are just as real and valuable as any physical ones they may have, and therefore we encourage people to take them very seriously. They will need to book out an adequate time slot in
their day to get ready for and attend the appointment.
“Appointments are scheduled by secretaries, who can also monitor things like waiting times and several patients can be in the waiting room at the same time.
“Clinicians can choose to hold a combination of telephone, faceto-face and virtual appointments if they feel it is necessary and patients can still opt out of the virtual clinics if they feel they would prefer an appointment in the usual way.”