Dr Ron Cook is a frontline Consultant Emergency Physician and Clinical Care Group Director for Unscheduled Medicine at Ninewells Hospitals in NHS Tayside, Dundee. Dr Cook joined us on our COVID webinar in March to share how Ninewells Hospital were using Consultant Connect as part of their COVID response strategy.
At the time he said; “The big challenge was the regional ambulance service in terms of notifying our COVID unit that they were going to be presenting and coming in with a patient, and also getting professional-to-professional advice on any measures they should take or if there was a query whether they should be treating a patient as COVID possible. So, given that our paramedics and ambulance crews were very used to using Consultant Connect, the logical step was to employ a COVID Unit Advice Line through Consultant Connect. We enabled access for the ambulance crews and for our regional GP services. In addition, NHS 24 (the 111 equivalent in Scotland) also has access to the COVID Advice Line.”
Six months on how has the COVID Advice Line performed?
The COVID Unit Advice Line launched on 13th March 2020 and was placed at the top of the list of options on the Consultant Connect service to help highlight the service to clinicians.
The team of clinicians answering calls are doing an amazing job. Calls are picked up in just 23 seconds (on average) which is quicker than our national average of 27 seconds.
- Source of calls*:
| No. of calls placed to COVID Unit Advice Line | |
| Scottish Ambulance | 1,901 |
| GP Practices | 777 |
| GP Out of Hours | 686 |
| NHS 24 (same as 111) | 116 |
| Across Hospital | 178 |
| Total | 3,658 |
*Data correct as of 17/09/2020
Useful links
- Find out about the NHS Tayside/Ninewells project – click here
- COVID-19 response planning in the NHS: 8 ways we are helping our customers as they move to the new normal.
