Feedback Medical announces that it is conducting a series of pilot programmes of community diagnostic centre (CDC) care pathways funded by a combined award of £300,000. We are directly contracting with the individual NHS organisations hosting the pilot sites utilising funds locally disbursed for this purpose under NHS England’s community diagnostic centre programme.
These pilots, which will initially run until 31 March 2024, will build on our pilot contract for the Sussex Integrated Care System with the Queen Victoria Hospital and aim to further demonstrate the impact of a pathway approach on CDC utilisation and wider patient wait times. The pilot implementations will also facilitate GP direct access into CDC diagnostic services.
Two pilot sites are participating in the programme – Amersham CDC in Buckinghamshire and a pan regional pilot across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire ICS, looking at multiple service lines and mutual aid delivery models for sharing workforce capacity at a regional basis through the Bleepa platform.
The evidence generated by these pilots will build the case for subsequent funding of a pathway approach to CDC delivery in subsequent financial years and NHS England will be closely monitoring the pilot outcome data as the programme rolls out in order to inform forward planning.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to further build the evidence base for a pathway approach to CDCs using Bleepa. This will generate the results back into the clinical pathway, under the noses of decision makers and enable them to facilitate a robust clinical dialogue to transform results into care decisions.
“Bleepa has already demonstrated a 69% reduction in wait times through the power of asynchronous communication and a pathway approach with Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex. This is the sort of impact data that will support the NHS to address elective care backlogs and to help ease winter pressures. It is a privilege to work with a number of new NHS partners to help them deliver this impact for their patients and staff.
“The team very much look forward to commencing these pilots and further strengthening our relationship with the NHS, which provides funding for a number of vanguard projects to champion the adoption and use of digital technology and innovation in care pathways.”
Dr Tom Oakley, CEO, Feedback Medical