With increasing awareness around the urgent and integrated health sector a priority identified by members for 2023-24, November saw the launch of our awareness communication campaign, which continued over the winter.
The aim of the campaign was to increase the understanding of what we all do (members, the sector and UHUK) and highlight the significant contribution members make to the functioning of the NHS and the benefits that brings. Over time, building from the campaign, we hope to find a more regular seat at the decision-making table for UHUK and members to influence policy and increase commissioning opportunities.
The ‘no cost’ campaign has partly relied on members helping to amplify and distributing messaging and content through their own channels, and we are grateful to those of you who have done that. We also thank the CEOs who helped lead the campaign preparation through the Campaign Task and Finish Group, working with our communications partner MIH Solutions.
Last year UHUK and MIH worked closely with members to understand in detail the role they saw for the organisation and each other in the public sphere and define, backed by data and case studies, the benefits they felt their organisation and UHUK brought to the overall health and care system.
Using this research, we developed a new narrative and brand for UHUK which formed the basis of a suite of new ‘foundational’ communication materials MIH produced for the campaign –including a narrative, video, webpage, fact sheet, case study database, key lines, and 3-month social media campaign. You can watch the video at www.uhuk.co.uk/campaign
The campaign included press interventions at a national and local level, a social media campaign and direct, personalised e-mail to 100 of the top national health and care policy makers and influencers. We are following up with those stakeholders with a short survey and meeting requests.
We also provided materials to members and other supportive third parties so they could amplify the campaign on their own channels and with their own stakeholders. Organisations including Social Enterprise UK, Social Enterprise Mark and Warwick University have been very helpful with their support.
Our campaign focused on the significant and unique benefits UHUK member services bring to the NHS – including the ability to provide patient services effectively and efficiently
that demonstrably reduced demand on A&E and ambulance services, the ability to innovate, and a history of being agile and responding positively to unexpected health system challenges. We also promoted the positive social impact UHUK member social enterprise organisations made in their communities and the employment opportunities they provided.
We significantly increased the presence of UHUK on social media. Most pleasingly, there was a significant spike in the number of additional followers, unique impressions, and unique interactions – suggesting UHUK is, via the campaign, reaching a whole new audience. The majority of these appeared to be within the health and care sector and at a relatively senior level. This was backed by anecdotal feedback given to UHUK and members via third parties.
Over the campaign period November – January we increased UHUK’s followers on LinkedIn by 40%, compared to the number gathered over its history to date. We garnered five times more unique impressions over the campaign period than the first eight months of the year.
Total engagements with UHUK content during the campaign reached a comparable level to other national, larger, higher profile NHS and health bodies. The campaign was amplified by members, member CEOs and other partners, providing exponential exposure beyond the core campaign.
Our PR campaign received coverage across a variety of media, with some local newspapers celebrating the role of their local organisation in helping the NHS manage demand (overall this local coverage combined to reach millions of readers, and we thank members who used our draft press release to send to local media). I undertook an interview with the HSJ (yet to be published), the BMA Doctor magazine is working on a feature promoting member work around virtual wards and our campaign was sent directly to our key audience’s Inboxes after it was featured in the NHS’ own integrated care newsletter. We are aware of examples where campaign material was taken to meetings with very senior political figures.
Our PR campaign caught the attention of third parties too, with Marie Curie seeking partnership opportunities with UHUK on the back of seeing the campaign. We also made sure we spoke about our campaign at key conferences, including the Westminster Health Forum policy conference in November attended by MPs and political figures.
The key to gaining traction in this space is to repeat messaging and continue to look for opportunities to re-enforce our position, which we will continue to do over the coming months. Now that we have a base from which to build, we look forward to progressing this important work.
UHUK is changing. It has brought together most of the social enterprise urgent primary care providers in England and around the UK. It has enabled them to learn from each other and share best practice. For the past two years UHUK has built up its resources and improved its offering to members. The first step was to jointly develop a vision. With the vision came a strategy for delivery. The rest of this article describes some of the projects and changes. You may be familiar with several, others may be a surprise.
The biggest challenge for UHUK and one that members have long understood as a priority, is enabling the organisation to represent the views of members to the NHS leadership and influence their thinking. It can be a fickle objective, but the appointment of MIH has seen the launch of a comprehensive campaign to have our voice heard both nationally and locally. It will take time, but as Chair of UHUK, I am confident 2024 will see further successes. The hugely successful Conference and Awards ceremony in late October provided a trove of photos and videos as well as great opportunities to learn new things and network. The photos and videos are being used to showcase the work being done by UHUK
This year we return to the Inn on the Lake, Glenridding for the CEO/Leadership workshop
CEOs and members of your Leadership Team are invited to join us for 2 days, from 1st to 3rd July 2024. We will be looking at how organisations focus on and promote their Social Value, and supporting members with leadership.
members as they deliver high quality care to patients and demonstrate ambition to innovate. The UHUK awards had over fifty entrants. Whilst the winners were outstanding, every entrant gave credit to their organisation and the showcase event in March gave the opportunity to explore the submissions in more depth.
Another change has been the appointment of a further two non-executive directors. Considerable thought was given to their roles. The first, Carrie Cobb, has already brought a wealth of experience as a senior clinician and leader at FCMS in the North-West. She is using her skills to add to strategic and operational discussions and developing the capacity of the Nurse Directors Forum amongst many other work.
We are building on the success of the UHUK Annual Awards for recognising excellence in Urgent and Unscheduled care.
This year we are hoping to add more award categories, to maximise the recognition of teams and services across the membership. We will be looking for Award sponsors from our commercial partners and supporters, and will be excited to announce the winners at the Annual Conference in Nov. Watch this space for announcements of submission deadlines!
More recently, Matt Adam, a social enterprise entrepreneur, has joined the team. UHUK members have prided themselves on their social enterprise credentials. Matt’s presence will galvanise our intentions, ensuring others recognise the additionality that Social Enterprises provide.
The last change is, perhaps, the most striking. Working in partnership with the West Midlands Health and Wellbeing Innovation Network at Warwick University, representatives from ten UHUK members linked with industry to create a project offering a 30% improvement in productivity. The innovation uses the latest in telephony and AI alongside the huge understanding and experience of UHUK members. The outcome was an innovative and realistic solution. I attended the project presentation day after doing a busy clinic. After a series of presentations and discussions, it was not difficult to see how such innovation could make a difference. The project is moving on to the second phase. I hope to be able to report back to you towards the end of the year.
The Annual Conference 2024 will visit the Cotswolds Water Park Hotel in Nov
Building on the success of the conference, we will be bringing you National Leaders, Influencers and inspiring speakers, along with commercial partners and sponsors. The winners of the UHUK Awards 2024 will also be announced in the evening.
Our latest offering, Ummanu360, is a new breed of interoperable Clinical Case Management System. Fully featured, modern and using predictive modelling and smart automation to improve:
Productivity improving both clinician and operational productivity with customisable flows and integrated or self-service booking mechanisms
Patient experience providing a transparent and reassuring experience
Quality of care improving patient safety
Rich features that includes everything your staff needs to manage the entire patient journey remotely, in UTCs, or in the patient’s home (Including CSI2, CPIS, PDS/SCR trace, ECDS, Auto PEM and EPS prescriptions)
Benefits of Ummanu:
No patient lists as the system automatically retrieves the next priority patient for the clinician
Zero unanswered call as clinicians only handle patients who are present in the virtual waiting room
A smart predictive dialler ensures patients wait for the clinician, not the other way around
We are proud to work with multiple UHUK members. Read more about our work with Badger Medical here.
Ummanu radically improves clinician productivity and reduces waiting times, all while delivering a safer and superior patient experience
Increasing productivity using automated call handling saves clinicians time, which results in increasing the number of consultations per hour.
+50%
Improving Patient Safety
Automated queue management improved call response assessment times
95% of urgent calls assessed within 20 minutes
98%
www.ummanu.health
99% of routine calls assessed within 60 minutes
Reported patient satisfaction
To join other UHUK members who are adopting our UM360 system, visit our website or contact:
Nir Tenbosh
Chief Revenue Officer
02070 979316
nir@ummanu health
In December, representatives from the 9 original participating UHUK members were joined by NEMS, Badger and LCW at the University of Warwick to define new challenges for the next phase of the programme. The members worked together to analyse the impact of different patients groups at different stages of their interaction with urgent care services, including both before and after. They identified the following challenges as the focus areas for this second programme:
How might we enable early intervention to improve patient experience and reduce pressure on urgent health services by:
1. Leveraging remote monitoring mechanisms to enable safe informed clinical decisions and organisational efficiencies
2. Facilitating a digital front door to enable a more efficient and streamlined patient pathway so that patients can be prioritised by clinical need.
3. Improving public knowledge of available health and social care services so that patient experience and service provision are optimised.
Applications from innovators with technologies and solutions are now open and the West Midlands Health and Wellbeing Innovation Network team have begun their scouting stage to analyse the market to identify these businesses.
If you know of a business who may be suitable, please direct them to apply via this link and feel free to share this opportunity in your networks.
If you have any questions about the programme you can contact the University of Warwick team at: WMHWIN@warwick.ac.uk
UHUK Innovation Programme, in partnership with The University of Warwick SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 HSJ DIGITAL AWARDS Celebrating excellence in digitising, connecting, and transforming health and care
UHUK is delighted to announce that the Innovation Programme, in partnership with The University of Warwick has been shortlisted for ‘Improving Urgent and Emergency Care through Digital’ at the 2024 HSJ Digital Awards, recognising innovative digital projects transforming care delivery, enhance efficiency, and improve patient outcomes.
Following the thorough judging process, UHUK/Warwick was shortlisted, ahead of the official awards ceremony to be held on 6 June 2024, with its Innovation Programme standing out as a real ‘success story’ worthy of a prized place on the panel’s shortlist.
343 entries have been received for this year’s Digital Awards, with 165 projects and individuals meriting inclusion on the final shortlist. The high volume - and exceptional quality – of applications once again mirrors the impressive levels of innovation and care continually being developed across the UK’s healthcare system.
UHUK, faced with increased demands on urgent health services, created oneof-a-kind Innovation Programme with the University of Warwick. Focused on optimising workforce efficiency, it identified 4 innovative companies who could help solve their challenges. Together they developed 6 solutions one of which demonstrates potential to improve call productivity by 25%.
Conor Burke, CEO UHUK comments, “We’re delighted to be recognised for our work in helping to create new
Also short-listed:
solutions for key issues facing the NHS through creative thinking. By bringing our members together to build upon their collective capability we are helping to make significant strides in the healthcare sector.
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, adds; “It always gives me great pleasure to congratulate our finalists at this stage of the judging process and this year is no exception as we acknowledge UHUK/Warwick for being shortlisted in the category of ‘Improving Urgent and Emergency Care through Digital’.
The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Manchester Central on 6th June 2024.
The full list of nominees for the 2024 HSJ Digital Awards can be found at: https://digitalawards.hsj.co.uk/
Digital Clinical Safety:
DHU Healthcare - Protecting and enhancing safety; a partnership offering better quality care through instant differentiation of the sickest patients at Lougborough UTC.
Empowering Patients through Digital, and Moving Towards Net Zero through Digital:
Cumbria Health - Health@Home
(see p11 for article on this service)
Improving Urgent and Emergency Care through Digital:
DHU Healthcare - Turning the tide; using digital triage to eliminate queues and improve flow through Loughborough UTC. (see p12)
Social Enterprise Mark CIC is thrilled to announce the successful launch of the Social Enterprise Silver Mark. This significant development underscores our commitment to supporting social enterprises on their journey towards achieving excellence in the realm of social entrepreneurship.
The criteria of the Silver Mark builds upon the six criteria of the Social Enterprise Mark with five additional criteria requiring an organisation to demonstrate Robust Governance; effective stakeholder engagement; ethical and good business practice; financial transparency; and the reporting of social impact.
Our online launch event on 7th November 2023 was a virtual celebration that showcased pioneering organisations that successfully underwent assessment against the new Silver Mark framework. To inaugurate this milestone, we collaborated with a select group of Social Enterprises currently holding the Social Enterprise Mark. Care Opinion, Selby Trust and Lendology CIC are the first recipients of the new Social Enterprise Silver Mark.
Lucy Findlay MBE, Founder of Social Enterprise Mark CIC, said, “The Silver Mark denotes the latest step in the journey that we have created towards social enterprise excellence. It goes to prove not only how good the business model is but how well a social enterprise is doing at making a difference to its community.
We welcome our first Silver Mark holders Care Opinion, The Selby Trust, Lendology CIC and their long-term commitment to accreditation and excellence. We are looking forward to opening this new standard out to social enterprises showing what good businesses they are as well as giving feedback on how they might become even better, from our expert assessors!”
Paul Tarrant, Director of Accreditation & Training, has been developing the new Silver Mark accreditation framework. “I’m excited that we have four of our current Mark Holders going through assessment to the Social Enterprise Silver Mark. This is an important new development for SEM CIC as it addresses the need for a progressive step between the Social Enterprise Mark and our widely respected Gold Mark. “
Miriam Rivas-Aguilar, Chief Operating Officer, Care Opinion said: “At Care Opinion we saw an opportunity to not only say we operated as a social enterprise with social enterprise values, but also to go through the accreditation process. We are committed to improving how we run Care Opinion and having been involved in the best practice pilot, we were excited to see that it had helped to develop the new Silver Mark We are also both proud to have been one of the first few SE Silver Mark accredited organisations!”
The Selby Trust said: “As a charity with a social enterprise focus, having a Silver Mark gives credibility to our work and allows us to continue doing what we do best.
The Silver Mark application process allowed us to reflect on the improvements we’ve made over the past 3 to 4 years, and also made us recognise areas of improvement, including representation, measuring social value impact and accessing the monetary benefits associated.”
If you are curious to learn more about the Social Enterprise Silver Mark and how it can benefit your business, we invite you to complete a brief form available on our website. Our team will reach out to you promptly to provide detailed information and address any inquiries you may have.
Social Enterprise Mark CIC is an award-winning international social enterprise accreditation authority. With over a decade of experience, we specialise in recognising and enhancing the capabilities of social enterprises as competitive, sustainable businesses committed to maximising their social impact. Notably, we are the only social enterprise accreditation body that operates as a social enterprise ourselves. Our dedication to promoting ethical, credible, and commercially viable business models has earned us recognition in various sector awards, including the SE100 Index of the top 100 social enterprises in the UK.
Our mission is to assure that the social enterprise business model remains ethical, credible, and commercial through independent accreditation. We envision a world where there is an unwavering commitment to social enterprise as a powerful vehicle for achieving positive social and environmental change.
Inspiring examples of best practice, innovation and partnership working were shared at a UHUK showcase event in London on 11th March 2024.
UHUK Members were invited to present their winning or shortlisted UHUK 2023 Innovation Award projects to an audience of integrated urgent care peers, NHS and NHS England representatives and commercial partners.
The showcase demonstrated the innovative ways in which urgent healthcare social enterprise providers are responding swiftly and flexibly to changing NHS and patient needs. They are pushing boundaries and harnessing new technology to co-design and deliver high-quality, patient-centred services that are delivering tangible improvements in productivity and patient experiences.
Winners, Runners up and Shortlisted entries presented to an audience of National Leaders and Members
The aim of the event was to share best practice among providers, as well as to highlight to commissioners and policymakers the very real difference that UHUK’s members are making in the community. The impact of various projects included increasing GP capacity by freeing up appointments through improved booking systems or e-triage, minimising hospital admissions by improving partnership working to provide wrap-around care for people suffering with frailty, integrating access to health care to improve the patient experience by developing a system where the patient only needs to tell their story once. Other initiatives included home monitoring, remote wards, mobile health services on buses and homeless health services.
Conor Burke, UHUK Chief Executive, said: “This is the first showcase event we have held following our awards. The event was well received, and attendees appreciated the opportunity to hear about what is being done by their peers in other areas, and to share best practice, learn from each other, and work together on common issues. Award winners and those shortlisted for awards were able to explain the impact of their work in inspiring and thought-provoking ways.
“The event has also enabled UHUK to demonstrate the vital role its members play. Their work shows just what can be achieved when barriers to integration between community providers, primary care and social care are removed and when brave decisions to use new technology are taken. They have shown that risk can be lowered, outcomes improved and pressure on the integrated care system reduced. Most importantly of all, they have evidenced that patients are showing more confidence in the system and are receiving the care they need in a way that supports them and their families or carers. Our members also demonstrated their ability to respond in an agile way to new or emerging issues.”
Read the award submissions here
We are thrilled to extend a warm welcome to East Berkshire Primary Care (EBPC OOH) as the newest member of the Urgent Health UK (UHUK) community, effective April 2024. As an organisation dedicated to providing exceptional out-of-hours healthcare services, EBPC OOH's commitment to excellence aligns seamlessly with the values upheld by UHUK.
EBPC OOH's inclusion in our membership further strengthens our collective ability to deliver high-quality urgent care services to communities across the UK. Their expertise and dedication will undoubtedly enrich the collaborative efforts of our network, fostering innovation and best practices in out-of-hours care provision.
With a focus on patient-centered care and a passion for enhancing healthcare accessibility, EBPC OOH embodies the ethos that underpins UHUK's mission. By joining our ranks, they demonstrate a shared commitment to advancing the standards of urgent healthcare delivery and promoting equitable access to vital services for all.
EBPC is a not for profit social enterprise providing a wide range of NHS Urgent and Primary Care services.
At EBPC it is their vision to continue to deliver outstanding primary healthcare
out of hours to the community of East Berkshire and beyond to enable people to live healthier lives through better access to primary care services.
EBPC strives to continually improve the accessibility of primary care services for everyone, bring innovation to the sector and reduce the amount of pressure NHS services face, while not compromising on the care of patients. Working together as one team to continually deliver consistent, quality care in a cost-effective way.
On behalf of UHUK, we extend our warmest greetings to East Berkshire Primary Care (EBPC OOH) as they embark on this new chapter of partnership and collaboration within our membership.
Cumbria Health on Call have been operating under their name since 2009, providing primary health care services to the population of Cumbria. From 26 February 2024 the service will change its name to Cumbria Health. The change in name reflects the growth the service has gone through over the past 14 years:
The service has developed from a purely out of hours health care provider, to a diverse and agile service operating various services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Cumbria Health is no longer a purely ‘out of hours’ provider, it now encompass 6 GP Practices across Cumbria, and multiple day time services, however our patients remain at the heart of all we do.
In 2023 we undertook a rebranding exercise to reflect our varied and vibrant service, this was done in conjunction with a local company, H&H Reeds. We invited our team to join focus groups and complete a survey, giving them the opportunity to convey their thoughts and feelings about our service and what it means to them.
This engagement returned a strong message, that our service and name means a lot to both our team and the patients that we serve, along with a strong sense of pride in all that we do and in the name ‘Cumbria Health on Call’. Therefore we knew we needed to retain our heritage whilst looking to reflect our service as it now is, I am pleased to announce that from 26 February 2024 we will operating under the name Cumbria Health.
Along with our new name, we have a new logo. This logo has a nod to our original red ‘C’, but with a new look and no longer limited to a clock which previously
reflected only the out of hours part of our service. The logo is instead one flowing line, representing our joined up and consistent service in a simple and clear image.
We are excited to launch our new name as we continue to grow our strong and responsive service for the benefit of the patients that we serve.
Along with their name change, Cumbria Health will be moving to a new administrative site based at Rosehill in Carlisle. This site will encompass the services administrative and call handling functions.
All current choc.nhs.uk email addresses will be migrated across, and telephony will remain unchanged. Therefore you should experience no interruptions in the various channels your service use to contact Cumbria Health. If you have any queries regarding the above please contact office@chumbriahealth.nhs.uk .
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a comprehensive inspection of Birmingham and District General Practitioner Emergency Room Limited (Badger Health Group) between 29th November and 11th December 2023.
We are delighted to announce that Badger Health Group has achieved an ‘Outstanding’ rating, the highest possible rating that the CQC can award. We are proud to have met the rigorous standards set by the regulating body and are exceptionally grateful to our team for all their hard work and dedication to upholding the highest standards of excellence in providing quality patient care and services. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Badger Member practices, system partners and colleagues who have supported us over the years.
Dr Waqar Azmi OBE, Chief Executive of Badger Health Group said:
“We are incredibly proud to have been awarded an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the CQC. This achievement is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team, who are committed to providing the highest quality of care to our patients. I believe the CQC report captured the heart of Badger when it said: ‘People were truly respected and valued as individuals and were empowered as partners in their care, practically and emotionally, by an exceptional and unique service. Many of the comments left by patients included that they valued the service and thought there should be more UTCs like the ones provided by Badger.’”
Amanda Lyndon, CQC Deputy Director of Operations in the Midlands, said:
“When we inspected Birmingham and District General Practitioner Emergency Room Limited (Badger), we found a service where managers and staff went the extra mile to ensure people received the best possible care. The service really understood what people needed. All staff should be extremely proud of the care they’re providing to people. They clearly work hard to provide exceptional care and other providers should look at this report to see if there’s anything they can learn.”
The full report is now available to read on the CQC website and can be accessed here
For any enquires, or to submit articles for the next newsletter, please email sarah.fletcher13@nhs.net
In December 2023 Kernow Health secured funding for a pilot scheme to implement a Right Care Car which will complement existing integrated urgent care services in Cornwall and provide extra resilience coinciding with the start of the winter period.
The focus of the pilot service is to support admission reduction and avoidance by assisting the Southwest Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST), the Urgent Community Response team, and the Acute Care Home Team and Macmillan Nursing Team. As well as providing support to these teams, it will complement additional initiatives put in place as part of Kernow Health’s winter plan including our care coordination hub and extended Integrated Transfer of Care Hubs (IToCHs).
The crew consists of a multi-disciplinary clinical team and is deployed on each call out with a driver and the duty clinician. The car will provide a similar service to that of the urgent care car but will operate during the day between 9am – 9pm.
Although the service which is in its infancy having launched in December and running until March 2024, and being mobilised over a short timeframe, is seeing numbers of patients increasing daily. So far, the pilot has seen some excellent patient outcomes. The reasons for call out can be wide and varied, this has included seeing a patient with suspected sepsis, and attendance to support a falls patient who was also receiving palliative care.
The aim is to develop a collaborative service with a multi-disciplinary team, which offers a mobile and face to face element, providing triage, and consultation to complete the patient journey.
It is anticipated that the pilot will provide an evidence base relating to the provision of additional face to face clinical consultations, to contribute to admission reduction and avoidance in Cornwall.
Cumbria Health is an award-winning social enterprise and not-for-profit primary and urgent care provider in the North of England, serving a population of 528,000 across two Integrated Care Systems. As well as providing out-ofhours urgent care we also manage 6 General Practices and, over almost 30 years, have grown to provide more than 50 services to the population of Cumbria including in Technology Enabled Care. In particular, the Health@Home service has grown over the past 3 years and benefitted more than 2,000 patients in the last year.
The Health@Home service implemented by Cumbria Health is used to remotely monitor key health metrics in patients’ homes, with measurements obtained by the patients themselves or by carers. These include Coronavirus (Oximetry@ Home), blood pressure (BP@Home), INR levels (INR@Home), and heart failure risks. The project also encompasses the Digital Care Home service that uses the Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation (SBAR) communication framework for referral information from 90 care homes. Patients are on-boarded to the appropriate service following a referral from a GP or Secondary Care, provided with any equipment they require and set their monitoring schedule. The services utilise one patient app (HealthWatch) which delivers all services in an easy-to-use interface with the results displayed in a single dashboard. Patients are provided with the assistance they need to eliminate digital exclusion, including options for email, phone call or SMS updates to clinicians and a support helpline. If patients struggle with operating Bluetooth devices, they can measure and upload readings manually.
Over the period of operation, BP@Home averages about 100 referrals per month and at Alston practice alone, the hypertension register has increased by 7% potentially avoiding many heart attacks and strokes. The INR@Home project is expected to save practices over 1000 appointments per 100 patients per year based on recent projections. Oximetry@Home has met with similar success, benefitting over 1,300 patients since its inception in 2021 relieving pressure on healthcare services during the pandemic. The scheme has allowed significant staff time to be released for more urgent clinical matters. As over 600 patients have benefited from BP@Home since June 2023, more than 150 hours of clinical time has been made available.
As the project continues to grow, we have ever more opportunities to exceed our standards of care. With more at-home monitoring solutions, valuable clinical time is made available which is especially vital during the winter.
Winter 2022/23 saw high levels of urgent care demand pressure in Primary Care across Greater Manchester (GM) specifically the surge in acute respiratory infections (ARI). In response to this crisis, Mastercall launched its ARI service which was rapidly mobilised at its HQ in Hazel Grove, Stockport.
An evaluation report from Health Innovation Manchester provided some great insights:
• Stockport saw the highest ROI and the lowest cost per slot used in GM with a 98% uptake.
• 96% of patients were discharged back home
• 3.35% were referred to A&E
• 0.09% were referred to the Urgent Treatment Centre
• Stockport saw the highest percentage of post-retirement age patients (19%)
• 90.02% satisfaction rate
We spoke to Dr Viren Mehta, Chair of Stockport GP & Primary Care Board in March 2023, who had this to say of the service:
“Our GP practices in Stockport are already offering more appointments than ever before to our patients, and latest data published shows that our practices offer one of the highest levels of appointments across the whole of Greater Manchester. However, demand continues to outstrip capacity and we are therefore delighted to work collaboratively with our colleagues at Mastercall in launching the new Acute Respiratory Infection service for our patients. The service is available to adults and
children with symptoms of respiratory infections such as coughs, wheezing and fever who may need to be examined by a clinician. People with milder symptoms may be directed to their local pharmacy. We hope this new service helps to ensure people who need a same day appointment can be seen by a clinician and reduce pressure on our emergency services.”
Due to the great success of 2022/23, Mastercall launched the service again in December 2023 to help tackle winter pressures for 2023/24.
• The clinics run from 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, 12-6pm Sunday
• The service is again thriving with a 99% uptake
How are referrals carried out?
All GP practices in Stockport can refer patients for a same day appointment. Referrals are for adults and children with acute respiratory symptoms.
GP practice receptionists can make direct referrals to the service for same day appointments. Patients are texted with advice and guidance whilst they wait for their appointment.
Next day appointments are also offered, subject to confirmation from the GP that the patient is safe to wait.
The ARI service will undoubtedly help reduce the strain on GP practices across Stockport as well as wider services. The service also provides an excellent patient experience due to same day access appointments. A faster response to treatment will also hopefully reduce worsening symptoms and prevent onward referral to A&E/hospital admission.
We're thrilled to announce that DHU Healthcare has been shortlisted in not one, but two categories at the prestigious 2024 HSJ Digital Awards!
This recognition highlights our commitment to innovation in healthcare, putting the patient at the centre of everything we do and the work we do in partnership within the wider health system. DHU Healthcare were shortlisted in the following two categories:
• Improving urgent and emergency care: DHU Healthcare - Turning the tide; using digital triage to eliminate queues, instantly differentiate the sickest patients, and improve flow through Loughborough UTC.
• Digital clinical safety award: DHU Healthcare - Protecting and enhancing safety; a partnership offering better quality care through instant differentiation of the sickest patients at Loughborough UTC.
Our Loughborough Urgent Treatment Centre has been at the forefront of transforming the way we deliver compassionate and quality care with the introduction of our digital eTriage system. DHU was the first in the region to introduce this cutting-edge technology, we've seen remarkable improvements in efficiency, patient experience and the way in which we are able to welcome our patients.
By streamlining assessments, reducing queues, and empowering clinicians to be able to instantly prioritise the most unwell patients, we're ensuring that those who need care most urgently receive prompt attention in the right place.
This achievement wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our team. We would like to thank everyone involved in this transformation and we're excited to continue pushing the boundaries of digital innovation in healthcare.
Together we are the largest social enterprise provider of outof-hospital services including;
• NHS 111 call centres
• Other call centre services
• Medical out-of-hours services
• Booking and referral services
• Emergency dental services
• GP practices
• Admissions avoidance schemes
• Urgent care centres
• Walk-in centres
• Community nursing and other community based services
• Sexual health services
• Offender health services
• Urgent Mental health services
• Military health services
• Homeless support services
We serve 64% of the population of the UK and Ireland (excluding Scotland)
UHUK members share a vision of “Healthcare from Social Enterprise” delivering value for money services of the highest quality to a social enterprise model.
We operate as a federation of social enterprise healthcare providers enabling members to benefit by working together and effectively being part of a much larger organisation.
Our services to members can be summarised as follows;
• Quality audit and benchmarking by external NHS auditors against agreed outcome focused quality standards
• Purchasing consortium which generates savings for members
• Market intelligence – analysis of our markets, identifying business opportunities and comparing prices
• Sharing of information and resources through discussion forums, workshops and the annual conference.
• Joint public relations initiatives
• Joint National representation initiatives (e.g. on The Five Year Forward View, NHS 111, Social Enterprise in Health)
The People:
Chair Dr Simon Abrams
Chief Executive
Non-Executives
Business Manager
Business Coordinator
Membership:
Current members include:
• Badger Birmingham area
• Bedoc Bedfordshire
• BrisDoc Bristol
• Cumbria Health Cumbria
• Dalriada Urgent Care Northern Ireland
• DHU Health Care Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Midlands
• ECPC OOH East Berkshire
• FCMS (NW) Ltd North Lancashire
• FedBucks Buckinghamshire
• IC24 Suffolk, Essex & Sussex
• Kernow Health Cornwall
• LCW UCC West & Central London
• Local Care Direct West Yorkshire
• Mastercall Healthcare Stockport, S. Manchester
• NEMS CBS Nottinghamshire
• NHUC Hampshire
• PC24 Merseyside
• PELC Ltd East London
• Salford Primary Care Manchester Together (SPCT)
• SELDOC South East London
• Shropdoc Shropshire & Powys
• Suffolk GP Federation Suffolk
• Western Urgent Care Belfast
Associate Members:
• Northdoc Medical North Dublin City & County Services
• Welsh Health Boards
Contact Details:
Chief Executive:
Conor Burke - conor.burke6@nhs.net
Business Manager, & Company Secretary:
Hazel Harrison - hazel.harrison3@nhs.net
Tel: 07841 337631
Conor Burke
Nigel Gazzard
Stephen Bateman
Carrie Cobb
Matt Adam (independent)
Hazel Harrison
Sarah Fletcher
www.uhuk.co.uk
