Here, we present finalists for the HTN Now Awards 2024 in the category of Health and Care Supporting Services.
Suffolk and North East Essex ICB
Overview: SiSU Health stations have been rolled in appropriate community settings across SNEE ICS, making them easily accessible to a wide range of individuals. The stations provide an opportunistic self-service health check to monitor: BMI, Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, Body Fat, Stress, Alcohol & physical activity risk.
Why? The national ambition is for 80 percent of people with high blood pressure to be identified and treated by 2029. Public Health data is published annually and for 22/23 is showing a value of 68.9 percent against a target of 80 percent. SNEE knew we needed a significant shift in identification to meet this target going forward.
What happened? NHS SNEE ICB partnered with SiSU to supply health stations across the ICS, to provide an opportunistic 4 minute health check, with no appointment or supervision needed. The core aims of the project have been to identify and treat undiagnosed hypertension as well as provide knowledge and education to our population on self-management and healthy living techniques. Utilising population health data and local knowledge has helped us target specific areas of the population and areas of geography. We have linked with local wellbeing services and included a signposting to local weight management and smoking cessation offer leading to additional outcomes, engagement and making every contact count with our population. Population health data provision providing detailed insights into the health risks population health trends in the community has been a key factor, mapped with local knowledge and clinical input has helped us identified sites for the units and these are shared with the public. Each health station will deliver an NHS saving on potential future stroke costs alone, estimated at £400,000 per health station per year. The cost per unit for 12 months is around £10,000, compared to a Healthcare Assistant salary cost this is more cost effective and frees up clinical time with the need for less blood pressure checks and time investigating a persons health need.
Looking ahead. The health stations will continue to deliver 4 minute health checks to tackle undiagnosed hypertension and share health information with local communities.
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Overview: Pathology IT team revolutionises services at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
Why? MSEFT faced an aging, unreliable and non-standardised landscape of pathology systems across the region, with each organisation having different processes for requesting pathology tests and receiving results and reports.
What happened? There were four key programmes: upgrading the LIMS across sites; digitally consolidating order-comms for all sites; implementing digital pathology for cellular pathology and haematology; and consolidating all test results into one view. The strategy and business cases secured over £20m of external funding. Multiple organisations and disciplines were included in the governance structure. Communications strategies identified multiple channels to reach stakeholders across the ICS and stipulated regular updates. The team recruited digital champions, and 4,500 people completed training. A command centre closely monitored progress on go-live and early life support, reporting to senior management across the ICS, including the CEO. To ensure good uptake a team of floorwalkers were deployed to provide 24/7 support to users to use the systems. 95 percent of staff are using the systems. Uptake in digital use has increased from 33 percent in May 2023 to 80 percent in October 2024. GPs now request pathology tests electronically, eliminating paper referrals and improving quality. A 20 percent increase in efficiency gains has been achieved.
Looking ahead. With core technologies implemented, the team now focuses on consolidation and optimisation. They have gained national recognition leading to further NHSE funding, and have been highly commended by The Royal College of Pathologists.
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Cheshire and Merseyside Rehabilitation Network (CMRN)
Overview: The development of a network collaborative Rehabilitation Coordination Service provided a streamlined and efficient model for the utilisation of data in the management of 103 beds; supporting timely and appropriate access to specialist rehabilitation for patients across Cheshire and Merseyside.
Why? Cheshire and Merseyside faced pressures on specialist rehabilitation provision following traumatic injury or illness, constraints on bed capacity and patient flow and challenges with existing pathways.
What happened? By having a dedicated team of rehabilitation coordinators, redeveloping processes and utilising analytical insights, the CMRN established a Rehabilitation Coordination Service (RCS) as an optimised operating model to proactively manage demand and maximise capacity. The RCS offers timely assessment, maintaining the KPI target with 90 percent of patients assessed within 3 days by use of a Single Point of Contact for referrers from referral through to admission. It also supports an improved admission process, with over 80 percent admitted within 14 days target, thereby relieving pressures on acute beds/wider system and optimising patient clinical outcomes and experience. It offers reliable and visible data shared via bed occupancy through daily situational reports, weekly referral meetings and weekly patient flow huddle; and increased compliance with 100 percent of patients having an expected date of discharge (EDD) which is a key driver for demand, capacity and discharge planning. The RCS delivers a CMRN wide bed management function. A database has been developed to collect and present data with operational and clinical focus, in a visual and easy-to-digest format providing situational awareness at ward and network level to better understand demand, capacity and activity to drive efficiencies.
Looking ahead. The team hopes to continue to drive improvements utilising the RCS and the data and insights it shares.
