The NHS is under extreme pressure this winter, with warnings of an incoming ‘tripledemic’ of COVID-19, flu and overwhelmed urgent care services. This is threatening to inundate the NHS and exacerbate record wait times for treatment, with over 7.1 million people already waiting to be seen. Hospital bed occupancy levels are at 95% capacity for adult general and acute beds.
However, one of the most effective ways to help tackle this issue is being massively overlooked. Improving communications channels between NHS departments and organisations offers a game-changing solution to the incoming winter crisis. By revolutionising the way clinicians communicate across the NHS and empowering healthcare staff to work collaboratively to triage patients, we can ensure better, quicker treatment. Adopting new communications channels means that we stand a real chance at reducing the severity of the ‘tripledemic’.
Slow Communication Channels
One key problem that is compounding NHS delays and the threat of the ‘tripledemic’ is the lack of effective communication channels between primary and secondary care. Outdated, difficult-to-use tools make it hard to convey messages quickly across the NHS, creating silos between services. These are unnecessary barriers which prevent healthcare providers from easily working together, and increase the backlog of patients awaiting appointments and subsequently, doctors’ workload. As a result, patients have to turn to urgent care, placing more pressure on emergency services and worsening the impact of the ‘tripledemic’ on the NHS.
Slow, time-intensive communication systems – such as long email chains, busy phone lines and paper referral systems – are making it impossible for clinicians to effectively tackle the pressures facing them this winter. More streamlined, efficient communication is needed to help clinicians work together and meet the rise in patient demand.
Integrated Communication as The Way Forward
Clinicians need intuitive, integrated systems which enable them to connect with colleagues quickly and easily to enable the best course of action. A great example of these systems in action are the recent, ‘winter war rooms’ that have been set up across emergency services. These data hubs have been established to promote urgent care collaboration. Centres are able to compare data such as A&E and ambulance wait times, staff numbers and hospital bed capacity. This information allows staff to direct ambulances and patients to the hospitals with the most capacity and best treatment times. Communicating in this way enables healthcare professionals to work together to make more informed, collaborative decisions.
This ensures that each patient is able to be redirected so they can be treated most effectively. By introducing communication channels which allow for more streamlined patient triage, we can free up hospital beds and reduce the number of patients being sent to hospital unnecessarily. Hospitals can subsequently give care to those who need it the most, and reduce the added pressure being placed on emergency services.
The Role of System Integration
We need to put the digital tools in place that allow data and information to be synthesized across the hundreds of different NHS services. This will make sure that no data falls through the cracks, and will help reduce the time GPs, secondary specialists and practice staff will have to spend entering data, the number of paper referrals needing to be transferred and the time taken to record treatment outcomes. Digital tools must be integrated with current NHS systems, such as EMISWeb and SystmOne, to ensure transferability and also to make sure that advice and guidance is automatically updated on the patient record. The uptake of digital tools and the subsequent synchronisation of this data across NHS systems will enable the NHS to get a handle on the ‘tripledemic’.
The Positive Impact of Communication
The positive impact of introducing digital advice and guidance tools for primary care clinicians can be seen demonstrated in Cheshire and Merseyside, where the uptake of software by GPs to communicate with secondary care clinicians has eliminated the 30% of dermatology cancer pathway two-week wait referrals that were being unnecessarily booked before the introduction of the technology.
By implementing similar models throughout primary and secondary care, we will be able to replicate these results on a national scale and as a result, dramatically reduce the wait time for secondary care, leading to fewer patients turning to urgent care, and reducing the amount of pressure placed on the NHS.
Connecting clinicians through digital platforms will empower healthcare staff to work together and collaborate more easily on care, leading to better outcomes for patients. By taking a step back and examining the wider, holistic picture of how patient information is distributed within the NHS, we can reduce the threat posed by the ‘tripledemic’ and the potential risks to patient safety.