SOUTH Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted for an award.
SWFT has been shortlisted for HealthTech Partnership of the Year at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2023.
Consultant Connect, the UK-founded telemedicine provider, has also been shortlisted.
The nomination recognises their combined outstanding dedication to improving healthcare and effective collaboration with the NHS.
Both organisations joined forces to support frail older adults in crisis to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.
Consultant Connect’s technology enables local teams – paramedics, GPs, advanced clinical practitioners – to talk to a SWFT consultant within 25 seconds and discuss the next most appropriate steps for a patient’s care. This ensures frailty patients receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place.
Eighty per cent of those calls result in an advanced community practitioner visit for the patient, removing the need for patients to take themselves to the Emergency Department.
The HSJ Partnership Awards recognise innovative projects and collaborations in the UK health system. The prestigious award programme, now in its sixth year, celebrates success stories and provides a platform to shape the future of our new integrated health and care system.
The judging panel comprised a diverse range of highly-regarded figures across the NHS and wider healthcare sector. The partnership was selected based on the collective teams’ diligence, ambition, and the positive impact that the project has had on both practitioners and patients within the healthcare industry.
Rachel Williams, Associate Director of Operations at SWFT, said: “We are extremely proud to be shortlisted alongside Consultant Connect in the HSJ Partnership Awards, with our partnership and the innovative way we are using the technology being recognised.
“The process of coming into hospital can be exhausting for frail older people. If admitted their muscles will often rapidly waste, causing them to become more dependent and significantly increasing their need for rehabilitation and long-term care. By using Consultant Connect we can prevent this strain and muscle wastage by carrying out assessments and caring for patients in their own environment where clinically appropriate.
“Hospital is not always the right place to treat frailty patients, with research suggesting that caring for a select group of vulnerable, older people at home can improve patient outcomes. The partnership with Consultant Connect enables us to avoid unnecessary admissions and ensure the right care is being given in the right place.”
