Winner

eConsult: an online GP consultation system enabling safe and appropriate delivery of care

In 2014, GP partners at the Hurley Practice developed a digital platform designed to give patients the option to seek advice online. The aim was to improve patients’ access to their own GPs, while at the same time managing demand in an effective way.

Four years on, eConsult is used by 402 UK practices. Patients use the platform to contact their own GP, answering a set of questions relevant to their symptoms. The GP – who has access to the patient’s electronic record – triages the patient remotely, offering the most appropriate care.

That might be a prescription, follow-up call, general advice, or a face to face appointment. But around 68 per cent of consultations are solved remotely, leading to a saving of around £13 per patient. It is estimated eConsult will have resulted in £1.5m of savings in 2017. Patients, meanwhile, receive advice from their GP within 48 hours rather than having to wait the average of two weeks for a face to face appointment.

To read this entry in full visit HSJ Solutions.

Click here for more details on the HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018.

Finalists

  • The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust: e-sepsis – Highly commended 
  • Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust: Using digital technology to provide faster access to sepsis care and treatment
  • Colchester Hospital University Foundation Trust: The Watchpoint Project
  • NHS Western Isles: Morse – data on the move
  • Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust: Warfarin reversal in acute bleeding – streamlining the process
  • Salford Royal Foundation Trust and Salford CCG: A collaborative project to improve management of acute kidney injury in primary care using e-alerts and educational outreach
  • Surrey and Borders Partnership Foundation Trust: Technology integrated health management for dementia
  • University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust hospital transfusion team: Reducing the usage of red blood cells and implementing a red cell calculator and app

 

Topics

HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2018 winners