Pilot is a ‘game changer’ in cardiology

Patients referred from their GP to the hospital are being seen more quickly thanks to a change in how referrals are managed.  

At Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust staff in Cardiology, Neurology and Gastroenterology have been piloting a new way of handling referrals which has seen promising results.

Instead of patients waiting potentially months for an outpatient appointment, clinicians can now speed up the process as they have a wider range of options when patients are referred to them, including sending them straight for a diagnostic test.

Traditionally when a GP refers a patient to the hospital, clinicians can either accept the referral and see them at a face-to-face outpatient appointment, reject it (with explanation) or reject it with advice.

Thanks to an in-house digital solution, ‘Advice and Refer’ gives clinicians a wider range of options, including to send patients straight for diagnostics, saving that initial outpatient attendance and reducing the waiting time for the patient.

Under the pilot when clinicians look at the referral they can either:
          1. Reject the referral
          2. Respond with advice to referrer
         3. Provide a management plan to referrer and patient
         4. Request a diagnostic test and begin the results management process
         5. Request the booking of outpatient services by telephone, face to face or video call

The results from the three pilots to date are very promising.

In Cardiology only 30 per cent of patients needed an outpatient appointment as their first intervention. This meant the Advice and Refer process sped up/shortened the pathway for the other 70 per cent of patients. Fifty-one per cent of patients had tests ordered during the initial triage. In Neurology and Gastroenterology the pathway was shortened for approximately 50 per cent of patients. 

Benefits for patients include earlier diagnosis and treatment, reduced waiting times and improved patient experience with fewer trips to the hospital required.

Dr Ben Davison, Consultant Cardiologist, said: "The Advice and Refer process has been a game-changer for us in Cardiology.

“It not only streamlines the management of referrals, allowing us to provide timely and effective care for our patients, but by having the ability to send patients straight for diagnostics, we hope to significantly reduce waiting times and improve patient outcomes.

“It also means that our patients get an early opinion and plan from an expert rather than waiting months in limbo for their outpatient appointment.”

The Respiratory service will be the next to trial Advice and Refer.