The Dorset Echo published an article highlighting how a Weymouth doctor praised the use of Consultant Connect technology to help with elderly and frail patients. You can read the article here.
We have also summarised the content below:
Thousands of elderly patients avoid unnecessary hospital queues thanks to health tech
Consultant Connect is one of the UK’s leading telemedicine providers – and last year, it helped over 150,000 elderly patients across the UK avoid unnecessary hospital trips.
Consultant Connect helps speed up communication between primary care clinicians and specialist consultants who are able to provide rapid advice from anywhere in the country.
Dr Laura Godfrey, GP Lead for Weymouth and Portland Frailty Team, used the technology with one of her patients to help speed up the process of arranging a scan. Dr Godfrey said:
“It’s not always clear which frail and elderly patients need to go to hospital, often they have complex needs that change the care they require. In these cases, it’s a real benefit to have expert advice on if they are best being treated at home or if they need further investigation.
“I had a patient who had been admitted to hospital a couple of times and was recently discharged. I felt she had an underlying and deep-seated infection, which can be especially dangerous for elderly patients. The patient hadn’t been scanned whilst in hospital, and I felt that a scan without an admission would support my management of her. I called the Acute Frailty line via Consultant Connect, and the consultant geriatrician arranged the scan for the patient at an outpatient clinic without her needing to attend any appointments beforehand.
“I would have had to admit her to hospital if I didn’t have access to the expert’s advice. As a result, the patient was able to stay at home and avoid an unnecessary admission, improving her care journey.”
Jonathan Patrick, CEO of Consultant Connect, said:
“Clinicians have an incredibly important job to do and our job is to make sure that they don’t waste time trying to find the right specialist to advise on their patient. Our tech improves communication between Primary and Secondary Care with calls answered on average in 25 seconds. This means more patients get the care they need sooner, with many avoiding lengthy hospital waiting lists.”
For more information:
If you’d like to find out more about how our services could help your NHS area, email info@consultantconnect.org.uk or call the team on 01865 261 467.
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