Providing solutions which enable patients to receive care closer to their homes
For many Primary Care Trusts and GP consortia, taking care closer to patients’ homes is a key objective. Many primary care organisations, however, find that there simply isn’t the infrastructure to move a significant proportion of patient care from acute hospitals into primary care settings.
To achieve this goal, therefore, PCTs and GP consortia need to think outside the box. With a mobile solution from Vanguard Healthcare, care can be brought close to patients’ homes in a cost-effective and financially sustainable manner.
Using a mobile unit mitigates the need for capital spending whilst allowing services to be developed in a way that is reactive to local needs. They can be used in conjunction with an existing NHS community hospital, deployed in a town centre car park or set up in any neighbourhood location – a flexibility that truly suits a community-focused way of working.
A range of procedures, from endoscopies through to orthopaedic surgery, can be carried out on a Vanguard unit which, with the flexibility to deploy services anywhere, means that healthcare organisations can easily deliver care direct to their patients.
Read on to see how NHS Trusts have utilised mobile units to maintain care closer to patients homes, using Vanguard’s mobile facilities to provide multi-point access to outpatient facilities to the benefit of thousands of NHS patients.
More than 40,000 cataract patients have already received treatment closer to home
Two fleets of Vanguard’s clinical facilities, contracted by Netcare UK, are pioneering examples of how mobile units can provide the ultimate flexible and cost-effective solution to treating patients away from acute centres.
As part of the Department of Health’s (DH) objective to drive down waiting times for cataract patients, Netcare UK used Vanguard mobile units to treat NHS cataract patients across the UK. The aim was to deliver the care as locally as possible to the patients.
Dozens of sites were used as regular venues to host the temporary facilities. At each location, Vanguard’s mobile ophthalmic outpatient unit was installed to provide a facility for patients to be assessed for treatment. Following the assessment a mobile theatre and mobile ward were installed to provide an ultra modern and highly advanced operating facility, designated as a NHS Treatment Centre. Providing the opportunity to receive surgery close to home has been welcomed widely throughout the patient community.
In the UK no less than one in four people develop a cataract by the age of 75. Treating 10,000 patients within an 11-month period (at a rate of almost eight times faster than traditional NHS services), these mobile centres played an important role in speeding up access to treatment for patients and improving the quality of care and patient experience.
Netcare UK began working with Vanguard and its mobile treatment centres in February 2004, visiting some 30 sites throughout the country on a regular basis. In February 2005, the DH announced that waits for NHS cataract operations had ended and that, by the end of the preceding month, no one was waiting more than three months.
DH statistics show that Primary Care Trusts using the Netcare service today only have waiting times of around six weeks. By June 2009, Vanguard’s units had treated over 40,000 patients.
Cinty Yarnell, Regional Operations Manager for Netcare, said: “While this has been a very flexible working relationship between Netcare and Vanguard, logistically it has been very difficult because of the size of the units, weather conditions at times and the frequency of moves and distance between locations. Vanguard’s transport and engineering back-up team has, however, provided an excellent service. As we all have the same goal of providing a service to patients, communication is paramount and has been key to the success of the partnership.”
Mobile units help keep treatment local in Gloucestershire
The logistics team at Vanguard Healthcare always think outside the box. There are few limitations as to where a Vanguard mobile unit can be placed. However in some instances when access to a hospital is limited, alternative sites have to be sourced.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which provides surgical and clinical services to Gloucestershire PCT (operator of both Tewkesbury Hospital and Stroud General Hospital), formed an innovative partnership with Vanguard so that patients in Gloucestershire could benefit from treatment close to their home.
Stroud General Hospital underwent a £1.8 million refurbishment of its operating theatres and endoscopy unit. Health managers at the Trust called on the services of Vanguard to supply a Mobile Day Surgery facility to ensure treatment could still be delivered locally.
However the sheer incline approaching Stroud General Hospital meant it was not possible to locate the mobile unit in the hospital car park. Therefore an alternative site within a Focus DIY store car park was secured.
The unit remained in the Focus DIY store car park for a number of weeks allowing patient care to remain in the Stroud area and thereby avoiding the disruptive, costly and time-consuming transfer of patients to nearby hospitals.
Steve Peak, former Director of Service Delivery of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s all about keeping treatment close to people’s homes and this new kind of partnership has already proved invaluable for our patients. We have had good reports from patients who have been very impressed with both the environment and the service provided by the mobile theatre.”
All operations within the unit were carried out by Trust medical staff supported by PCT nursing staff and Vanguard clinical personnel. Procedures included arthroscopy, cataracts, hand surgery, urology and pain management procedures.
The Vanguard national fleet treats patients across the UK and Ireland. However it was while this day surgery unit was operational in Stroud at the superstore location that the 100,000th patient to undergo a procedure within a mobile unit was reached.
Vanguard’s mobile units mean that state-of-the-art day surgery facilities can be provided wherever there is a need in the community.
