Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS (CNTW) Foundation Trust
During the pandemic, CNTW launched Nasstar’s OneConsultation platform, enabling over 52,000 secure virtual appointments in just over a year.
CLIENT
Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS (CNTW) Foundation Trust
INDUSTRY
Healthcare
SERVICE
Cloud
PARTNER
aws
The client
The challenges
CNTW suddenly found that due to social distancing measures it needed to move as many non-emergency appointments online as quickly as possible and do so in a way that could be used securely and easily by both staff members and service users.
Whilst many organisations turned to ‘off the shelf’ conference services, CNTW (like most in the healthcare sector) decided these were not suitable given its patients are often vulnerable and can struggle with technology. Most consultations are also highly confidential which necessitate different security features and compliance regulations.
Our goal
Even before the pandemic, CNTW took a long-term view. It wanted to broaden the patient choice and looked to a future of ‘blended appointments’ where virtual consultations would be a permanent option for patient consultations. The objective was therefore to improve clinicians' capacity for service user care overall, rather than a short-term fix to an immediate problem.
CNTW, therefore, ensured that the success of the programme would be measured from day one, and it used Sheffield Hallam University during a pilot stage to apply a data-driven approach to track staff and service user feedback on behalf of CNTW. This ensured these learnings would contribute to long-term success.
The outcome
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Pilot stage and initial launch
CNTW started the process of deploying OneConsultation via a pilot stage just before the start of the pandemic in March 2020. This meant The Trust was in a strong position for a full launch on the 6th of April, just three weeks after ‘lockdown’ was announced by the Government.
Rapid take-up and service adoption
Take-up was rapid. In the first full month, 400 clinicians had access to the service and over 5,000 video consultations were completed. Service adoption has accelerated rapidly thereafter. In the last 14 months (as measured at the end of June 2021), CNTW has conducted 52,494 online consultations using the OneConsultation platform. Currently, the solution is available to 141 teams across the Trust with 3,151 staff having access to the solution. The Trust now averages 3,768 online consultations per month with CNTW having now resumed some face-to-face consultations.
High satisfaction rates among service users
Feedback from both service users and staff has been high. When asked if they were satisfied with the overall experience of today’s video call, 6,455 service users responded with either “strongly agree” (68%) or “agree” (28%) – a combined 96% overall satisfaction rate. These high satisfaction rates are reflected in the fact that 93% of patients using it said they would be willing to receive future mental health care by video. Such high satisfaction rates point favourably to continued high use as CNTW moves to a ‘blended’ model where service users can choose from either virtual or in-person appointments.
Environmental benefits
Another benefit that the Trust is continuing to measure is a reduction in CO2 emissions. From a sample of service users who responded to the patient survey between April and October 2020, it found that 24,935.3 miles were travelled by 1,547 service users. CNTW also estimates that almost one million miles of staff travel could be saved annually from video consultations. Tracking the carbon savings from both staff and service users will be a key part of the project moving forward.
What CNTW has to say...
"Rollouts of this scale would normally take three months or more, but Nasstar responded immediately and collaborated responsively, enabling us to offer virtual consultations just two weeks after lockdown started. By using Microsoft Azure, we have instantly scaled up the service across our 141 teams and over 3,000 staff. OneConsultation is also a key part of our service offering, enabling patients and staff to use it from anywhere providing expertise where and when it is needed. "
Gill Sanderson
Head of Digital Customer Operations
•CNTW