The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) has expanded the coverage of Bleepa® to cover more specialities and reduce clinical response times.
Initially supporting six specialities at The Royal Oldham Hospital and one at Fairfield General Hospital, the coverage has now been expanded to include 11 specialities at Oldham, including endocrinology and haematology, and five at Fairfield, including cardiology and respiratory.
This expansion has resulted in a 68% increase in users from June 2023 to June 2024, with over 9,200 patient referrals processed in the same period.
A report published in October 2023 highlighted the efficacy of the Bleepa®-based system. By transitioning from paper-based referrals to digital, the NCA observed a substantial reduction in clinical response times, with an estimated cost saving potential of £819,000 over five years. It showed that if adopted across the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, the projected savings could reach £7.7 million over the same period.
Further funding secured for Bleepa®
In addition, Feedback Medical has secured further funding to extend the delivery of its community diagnostic centre (CDC) pathway pilot at the NCA site in Oldham.
Feedback has successfully supported Oldham CDC’s application for further pathway funding from the 2024-25 NHS England budget, securing a paid contract extension as outlined in the original pilot announcement, on 21 March 2024. This further funding is partially from the NHSE H1 budget to 30 September 2024, with the balance expected from the NHSE H2 budget to continue the pilot to 31 March 2025. The pilot is focused on breathlessness, further demonstrating the impact of a pathway approach on CDC utilisation and wider patient wait times and will be used to complement positive findings from its past and ongoing pilots.
This announcement underscores the company’s continued commitment to enhancing clinical pathways and inpatient referral systems within the NHS.