Why the vaccine roll-out proves the necessity for new patient pathways
The UK’s extraordinary national vaccine roll-out has now offered first COVID-19 vaccinations to more than 20 million people. It is a vital shot in the arm and a significant reason why the UK can finally plan to lift restrictions.
We would not be in such a strong position without the outstanding commitment of frontline NHS employees, Armed Forces and the thousands of volunteers helping to expedite a route to freedom. I had the honour of working alongside some of these selfless individuals as we built a vaccine centre in my GP’s car park. Seeing people coming together to overcome these unprecedented challenges fills me with confidence that as a population we will continue to find new and innovative ways to contain COVID-19 – and to support one another.
As the vaccine roll-out continues and HM Government maps a route out of the pandemic, it is important we recognise, and build from, moments of positive change. The willingness of people to engage with health services in non-traditional settings, including supermarket car parks and dedicated vaccination centres is one lesson we mustn’t overlook.
It shows us that care pathways can be changed. If we want to rebuild the resilience of the NHS, we must whole-heartedly commit to doing so.
Integrating care to reduce the burden on the NHS
Following an examination of the UK’s response to the pandemic to date, HM Government has identified that the future of the NHS requires greater integration of care and faster adoption of digital technologies and services. These points are clearly outlined in the DHSC’s recent White Paper ‘Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’.
Integrated Care Systems (ICS) will be fundamental in driving system transformation and redressing weaknesses in our health system. Optimising data infrastructure and driving even greater interoperability will profoundly improve and enhance patient care.
We have started to deliver this transformation for Cheshire and Merseyside by bringing seamless access to patient data via a centralised index and enabling real-time, cross site image retrieval. As a result, clinicians can effectively share patient records between clinical teams across – and even beyond – Cheshire, Merseyside and the Wirral. This means patients can move between any of the hospitals in the region, knowing that their patient records and previous images can be accessed at any stage of their diagnosis and treatment.
Bringing care closer to the community
The pandemic has exposed levels of distressing healthcare inequalities [PDF 29Mb] faced by patients in some of the UK’s most deprived communities, and while the proposed reforms to NHS England have not yet passed through Parliament, we must continue to work together to mitigate against the lasting effects of COVID-19 on our health service capacity.
Building resilience for the NHS and reducing healthcare inequalities requires rethinking patient pathways and introducing new resources. This includes shifting diagnostic and treatment services away from secondary care to settings closer to patients’ homes through a network of Community Diagnostic Hubs. By embedding diagnostic capabilities deeper into the community centres, where so many people already spend their time and transport links are well established, we can improve the NHS’ ability to discover and treat health issues more rapidly.
Through our partnership with Rutherford Diagnostics, Philips UK will proudly open one of the UK’s first Community Diagnostic Hubs in Taunton later this year. This state-of-the-art diagnostics hub will transform the current model of care delivery by providing access to ‘right first time’ diagnostic and treatment services closer to patient settings, further reducing the burden on the NHS in the region.
Empowering people to live healthier, longer lives
Despite the huge challenges posed by the pandemic, we have a collective imperative to harness the population’s heightened awareness of health and wellbeing to advance the preventive health agenda. The success of the vaccination programme – with an extraordinary 90% uptake – proves that people can and will engage if we bring services closer to where they live.
It is crucial that lessons learned during this crisis are carried forward. This includes ensuring that access to high-quality healthcare, the latest medical technologies and new patient pathways are fairly distributed, so nobody is left behind.
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*Photo by Djm-leighpark is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0