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Found 47 results
  1. Content Article
    ‘Patient-initiated follow-up’ (or PIFU, for short) is not a new idea and has been referred to in different ways over time, such as open-access appointments, self-managed follow-up, and see-on-symptom appointments. However, this approach has been given renewed attention given rising waiting times and the backlog of care that built up throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.  Moving outpatient attendances to patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) pathways is considered a key part of plans to reduce outpatient follow-ups. But what exactly is PIFU? In this Nuffield Trust explainer, Sarah Reed and Nadia Crellin describe more about what it is, the problems it could solve, and what is known so far about how well it works.
  2. Content Article
    Error management is a systematic approach aimed at identifying and learning from critical incidents by reporting, documenting and analysing them. However, almost nothing is known about the incidents doctors in outpatient care consider to be critical and how they deal with them. This interview study aimed to to explore outpatient doctors’ views on error management, discover what they regard as critical incidents and find out how error management is put into practice in ambulatory care.
  3. Content Article
    The following account has been shared with Patient Safety Learning anonymously. We’d like to thank the patient for to sharing their experience to help raise awareness of the patient safety issues surrounding outpatient hysteroscopy care.
  4. News Article
    A trust is reviewing more than 100,000 patients on its outpatient lists, after concerns emerged that some had ‘been lost whilst on hold’ for follow-up appointments. A report from Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust, leaked to HSJ, found 116,575 patient records without a scheduled follow-up after an outpatient consultation, with more than half of those left inappropriately without action, some dating back a decade. The review was triggered after staff spotted cases in which patients had been “lost whilst on hold”, the report said. The trust this week told HSJ that, since the initial discovery in the summer of last year, it had been validating the lists and reduced the number of outstanding records to 47,778. It aims to complete the reviews in the next two months. It told HSJ it had undertaken a harm review and found no “systemic harm”. Concerns have been raised over several years about the extent of overdue and unreviewed patients on follow-up lists, and the potential for them to deteriorate and come to harm. There are no national figures monitoring the patients, many of whom have long-term health needs. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 December 2023
  5. Content Article
    The Patients Association has been working with NHS England and the Royal College of Physicians on the development of an outpatient strategy for the past year. In this series of three blogs, they discuss what they have heard from patients about the state of outpatient care and what patients would like to see change. What patients want from an outpatient strategy Kindness, reasonable adjustments and consistency needed across outpatients Personalising care and offering patients choice
  6. News Article
    There will be no national mandate for GPs to use advice and guidance in a certain number of cases, NHS England has told Pulse. National medical directors for primary and secondary care said that formalised pathways should be developed ‘locally’, and decisions should be based on an area’s population. In September, it was reported that NHS England’s upcoming outpatients strategy would further increase the use of advice and guidance (A&G) before GP referrals are accepted, with the RCGP then "voicing concerns" about this proposal. However, when asked about the reports that this would be mandated, Dr Stella Vig, national medical director for secondary care and clinical director for elective care, said she ‘doesn’t know’ where that came from, and ‘doesn’t recognise’ those comments. NHS England also released guidance clarifying the medico-legal risks and clinical responsibility for clinicians using A&G or referral assessment services (RAS), which is now available on the NHS Futures website. The guidance said that these forms of specialist advice are "expanding rapidly" as a result of improvements to digital services. On legal issues, it said liability ‘will be determined on a case by case basis’ but that GPs could be liable if "all relevant clinical information is not provided" when sending an A&G request. But specialists at hospitals would be accountable if they send back advice to the GP which is ‘not clinically appropriate’ or if they ‘refuse to accept a patient’. On turnaround times, NHS England has said that ‘local variables will ultimately dictate the agreed response times’ for hospital teams dealing with A&G – but the guidance recommends that the response time "should not exceed 10 working days for routine requests". Read full story Source: Pulse, 30 November 2023
  7. Content Article
    Working in partnership to improve patients' experiences of outpatients was chaired by Sarah Tilsed, Head of Patient Partnership at the Patients Association. Joining her were: Dr Fiona McKevitt, Clinical Director for Outpatient Recovery and Transformation, NHS England Dr Theresa Barnes, Clinical Lead for Outpatients, Royal College of Physicians Irene Poku, Representative Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement with experience of using outpatient services. In a wide ranging discussion, the panel talk about collaboration, equity of access and group consultations.  This webinar was part of Patient Partnership Week 2023. 
  8. News Article
    A big rise in GP referrals being deferred because no appointment slots are available, in the wake of the covid pandemic, has sparked concerns that patients are going undiagnosed and missing out on the correct treatment. Outpatient referrals are typically classed as having an “appointment slot issue” when no booking slot is available within a timeframe specified by the provider, under the NHS e-referral system. The latest NHS Digital figures, analysed by HSJ, show the number of ASIs was 52% higher in March 2022 than February 2020 — up from 245,582 to 374,209. The statistics suggests appointment slot issue accounted for 77% of all bookings in March 2022, 26% of all referrals and 19% of bookings and referrals combined. In February 2020, this was 32%, 17% and 11% respectively. The Royal College of GPs told HSJ there was a risk of patients “simply disappearing” off lists if the issue was not properly managed, while charity Patient Safety Learning said the issue was a “growing problem” which NHS England must “urgently investigate”. Patient Safety Learning chief executive Helen Hughes said: “NHS England needs to urgently investigate, quantify the scale of the problem and take action if we are to prevent these capacity problems resulting in avoidable harm for patients. “Patients who cannot access outpatient services may deteriorate further while they wait for care, and it is not clear that in these cases there is the appropriate support available for them. There is also the potential for patients to be misdiagnosed and receive inappropriate treatment without specialist involvement, and the potential of a postcode lottery of care emerging for some conditions.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 May 2022 Read Patient Safety Learning's blog: Rejected outpatient referrals are putting patients at risk and increasing workload pressure on GPs
  9. News Article
    More than ten million patients are on “hidden” waiting lists for NHS care. There are 6.7 million patients on the official NHS waiting list, which includes people who have been referred by GPs for hospital treatment such as cataract or hip and knee surgery. However, data released by health service trusts under freedom of information laws suggests there are 10.3 million further patients who need follow-up care, illustrating the scale of the task facing the NHS. Louise Ansari, national director at the patient group Healthwatch England, said: “Waiting a long time for treatment can put a huge strain on patients and their loved ones. But this can be so much worse when there is ‘radio silence’ from the NHS, leaving people uncertain if their referral has been accepted, unclear about how long they may have to wait and often feeling forgotten.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times (30 August 2022)
  10. News Article
    An LMC has created template letters to help practices reject secondary care workload dumping, including rejected referrals and requests to complete work on behalf of hospital trusts. Cambridge LMC said it developed the tools amid a growing ‘tsunami’ of secondary care workload transfer into general practices. One template letter tackles the rejection of a referral ‘on the basis that a proforma was not enclosed or completed in full’. It points out that the GMC requires GPs to refer when they ‘believe it is necessary to do so’ and that their ‘contractual obligations make no mention of a requirement to complete a proforma’. Cambridgeshire LMC chief executive Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer told Pulse that ‘we need the temperature to rise on the understanding around pressures across general practice’. Read full story For more information on the issues raised, read a blog by Patient Safety Learning about the patient safety risks of rejected outpatient referrals. Source: Pulse (19 August 2022)
  11. News Article
    Patients at trusts with long waiting lists should no longer think ‘they have to go to their local hospital’ for outpatient appointments, but should instead be offered virtual consultations elsewhere in the country where there is greater capacity, Sir Jim Mackey has told HSJ. The NHS England elective chief said recent efforts to abolish two-year waiters by July had meant a “very big” surgical focus. However, the next phase of the elective recovery plan would see a major shift of emphasis onto reducing the wait for outpatient appointments. Sir Jim said: “Providers have been split into tiers again with tier one having national oversight and tier two, regional oversight. Behind that we will be pairing up organisations so that organisations with capacity can help those with the biggest challenges from a virtual outpatient perspective. He added: “There still is a lot to work through [on virtual outpatients], we’re going to be testing the concept… We need to work through how all the wiring and plumbing needs to work. For example, what happens if the patient needs a diagnostic locally, having seen a clinician virtually in another part of the country? “It would be great also to try and stimulate more of a consumer drive on this – encouraging patients to ask about virtual outpatients when the waits locally may be too long, so they don’t just think they have to go to their local hospital. I think this could really help shift the model if we can get it right.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 August 2022
  12. News Article
    A large acute trust is carrying out a major expansion of patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) appointments, which is said to be “the most ambitious” project of its kind in the NHS. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust has categorised around half of its outpatient follow-up list as “possible or probable opportunities” for patient-initiated pathways. NNUH wants to make PIFU the “default model” for patients who are not on active pathways, and where it is safe to do this. Its project is being closely watched by national leaders and has already drawn praise from NHS England’s director of elective recovery, Rob Stones, during a webinar last month. It is understood to be more ambitious than NHSE’s official PIFU pilot projects. NHSE’s elective chief, Sir Jim Mackey, has said he wants to expand PIFU pathways on an “industrial” scale. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 July 2022
  13. News Article
    Trusts have been told today by NHS England that they must book appointments by the end of this month for all patients who have been waiting longer than 78 weeks. A letter from NHS England sent to trust leaders set out the new orders and represents system leaders’ attempt to ramp up progress on this cohort of patients, which the NHS and government elective recovery plan commits to eliminating by March. The appointments must be issued this month, and be dated before the end of March, for these pathways, of which about 48,000 are recorded nationally. The letter also warns trusts that, while NHSE will accept some inpatient cancellations are unavoidable, cancelling outpatient appointments — even during strike action — is viewed as less acceptable. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 12 January 2023
  14. News Article
    Retired doctors will have an option to “keep caring” and re-join the NHS to carry out outpatient appointments in a new initiative to help reduce waiting lists. From autumn, newly-retired doctors will be able to sign up to a new digital platform where they will be able to offer their availability to trusts across England to perform outpatient appointments, either virtually or in person. NHS hospitals will choose the consultant whose skillset and availability best matches the appointments they need covered, which are scheduled and arranged with patients in the normal way. More than four-fifths of people on the waiting list require an outpatient appointment such as a follow-up for cardiology or rheumatology – rather than a surgical procedure. Consultants carrying out remote appointments could be based anywhere in England, which can help those hospitals in areas with higher demand. Those requiring a face-to-face appointment or follow-up will be seen in the usual way. Speaking at NHS Confed Expo, Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said: “Ahead of the NHS 75th birthday in July, this new platform is an innovative example of how we are constantly adapting the way we work to benefit patients by helping to reduce waiting times as well as supporting staff. “Using this digital tool will help us to match patients with retired doctors who we know are keen to stay working in a flexible way so they can keep caring for patients, as well as allowing us to expand capacity to see even more patients – and faster. “NHS staff have already made excellent progress against our Elective Recovery Plan – and this platform will not only help us continue to reduce the longest waits but it will also help us slash agency spend, using the existing capacity of experienced doctors who still have so much to offer the NHS”. Read full story Source: NHS England, 14 June 2023
  15. Content Article
    This blog for Refinery 29 by journalist Sarah Graham examines the gender health gap, a term used to describe the inequalities in treatment and health outcomes that men and women experience. She talks about the stories relating to sexism and institutional bias she has come across during her time as a health journalist, that result in poor care experiences and outcomes for women. While acknowledging that women should not have to make extra effort to be heard by the health system, Sarah offers tips for women to help them voice their concerns and improve their chances of being listened to by medical professionals.
  16. News Article
    Tens of thousands of outpatient video consultations have been carried out by NHS trusts following the national rollout of a digital platform to support the coronavirus response. Digital healthcare service Attend Anywhere was introduced across the country at the end of March after NHSX chief clinical information officer Simon Eccles called for its rapid expansion. There has been a major push to boost digital healthcare services across the country in order to support the national response to coronavirus. Much of primary care has already switched to working virtually. Undertaking hospital outpatient appointments digitally has been identified as a way of keeping patients safe by removing their need to travel. There have now been more than 79,000 consultations with Attend Anywhere. The number of consultations started at around 200 per day, but has rapidly increased to more than 6,000 per day. Data released by NHS Digital showed that GPs moved swiftly to change their practice model in the face of COVID-19. The proportion of appointments conducted face-to-face nearly halved and the proportion of telephone appointments increased by over 600 per cent from 1 March to 31 March as GPs moved to keep patients out of surgeries except when absolutely necessary. However, concerns have been raised over the limitation of remote appointments, particularly in mental health services. Royal College of GPs chair Martin Marshall raised concerns that video appointments could make it difficult for doctors to diagnose and manage patients’ conditions during the pandemic. Read full story Source: HSJ, 11 May 2020
  17. News Article
    NHS England is commissioning a “COVID-19 home treatment service” of primary and community healthcare for self-secluding patients. It is introducing “urgent primary care services to patients diagnosed with COVID-19” who are self-secluded at home. The service will care for patients’ symptoms relating to COVID-19 as well as other conditions until they are discharged from home isolation and referred back to their GP. “There is likely to be a gradual handover of patients to CHMS providers as they come onstream to provide the service,” according to a letter from NHSE’s primary care directors sent to GPs today. “As soon as the new service is up and running in your area, your clinical commissioning group will be able to tell you who will be providing care for patients in your locality.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 11 March 2020
  18. News Article
    Patients were harmed at a Midlands trust because of delays in receiving outpatients and diagnostics appointments, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has warned. Following the inspection at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust in September and October last year, the CQC has lowered the trust’s rating in its safety domain from “requires improvement” to “inadequate”. It warned there were insufficient numbers of staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience to “keep patients safe from avoidable harm”. The report noted the trust had identified incidents in 2018 and 2019 where patients had come to harm due to delays in receiving appointments in outpatients, particularly in ophthalmology. Ten patients were found to have come to low harm, one patient moderate harm and two patients severe harm. The CQC also issued a Section 31 letter of intent to seek further clarification in relation to incidents where patients had come to harm because of delays to receiving appointments in outpatients and diagnostic imaging, although it has confirmed the trust has provided details on how it is going to manage the issues raised. The watchdog said it would continue to monitor the issue. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 February 2020
  19. News Article
    Patients are facing a week of disruption, with more than 10,000 outpatient appointments and surgeries cancelled in Belfast. Some people referred by their GPs on suspicion of cancer could have their diagnosis delayed, the head of the Belfast Trust has said. The trust apologised, blaming industrial action on pay and staffing. Martin Dillon said outpatient cancellations "could potentially lead to a delay in treatment" for cancer. The Department of Health said the serious disruption to services was "extremely distressing". Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 Decmeber 2019
  20. Content Article
    Hospitals are rejecting GP referrals for investigations and outpatient treatment at an increasing rate. In this blog, Patient Safety Learning looks at the patient safety issues caused by rejected referrals and lack of capacity in outpatient specialities. We call for the government and NHS leaders to investigate the problem and take action to mitigate risks to patient safety.
  21. Content Article
    This is the report and formal minutes of a House of Commons Public Accounts Committee session that examined the issues surrounding NHS backlogs and waiting times in England. The session particularly focused on accountability in how NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care manage workforce and resources. At the end of December 2021, 6.07 million patients were waiting for elective care, the biggest waiting list since records began. Only 64% (3.87 million) of these patients had been waiting for less than 18 weeks, compared with the performance standard which requires 92% to have been waiting for less than 18 weeks. Similarly, in December 2021, only 67% of patients with an urgent referral for suspected cancer were treated within 62 days compared with a requirement for 85% to be treated within that time. The report highlights that although the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant effect on the backlog, NHS waiting time performance had declined steadily in the years before the pandemic.
  22. Content Article
    The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) have identified a safety risk involving outpatient follow-up appointments which are intended but not booked after an inpatient stay. If a patient does not receive their intended follow-up appointment, it could lead to patient harm owing to delayed or absent clinical care and treatment. The investigation was launched after HSIB identified an event where a patient was discharged from hospital on two separate occasions with a plan to follow-up in outpatient clinics. Neither of the outpatient appointments were made.
  23. Content Article
    This Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation looked at the risks involved in the correct identification of patients in outpatient departments. Correct identification is crucial to make sure they receive the right clinical procedure. In the last 10 years the number of patients treated in outpatient clinics has nearly doubled. Many minor surgical procedures can now be carried out in an outpatient clinic, whereas in the past they would have been carried out in an inpatient theatre setting. The high number of patients treated in an outpatient clinic requires efficient management. Clinical consultation and delivery of the required intervention often needs to be completed within a 15-20-minute appointment. In a single outpatient waiting area there may be patients arriving for different clinical interventions. Staff need to make sure that all patients are seen in the right place, at the right time and (if required) receive the right procedure. Outpatients are not provided with any physical means that staff can use to identify them. This is different to inpatients where a wristband is worn following an initial check of the patient’s identity. Checking the identity of a patient in an outpatient department typically relies on staff speaking to patients. There is a risk of patients being missed or misunderstood due to the environment, work demands, language or cultural barriers.
  24. Content Article
    In 2019 the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) carried out a survey which evidenced the extent of non-consultant hospital doctors’ concerns about different aspects of their ability to deliver out of hours care. Respondents were also asked to give examples or aspirations of best practice. This report uses this survey data and examples of best practice to provide a proactive guideline to support trainee surgeons. The survey found that there were five key areas requiring improvement for nonconsultant hospital doctors when working OOH, specifically: a) electronic systems; b) supervision; c) training; d) staffing; e) facilities. This document considers the results of the survey to make recommendations on best practice that will support non-consultant hospital doctors and protect patients out of hours.
  25. Content Article
    In this blog, Lotty Tizzard, Patient Safety Learning's Content and Engagement Manager, looks at how positive, proactive communication improves patient trust in health services. She highlights that negative past experiences can prevent patients accessing the support and treatment they need, and looks at possible ways to build patient trust in the health system.
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