In the summer of 2019, the Gastroenterology Unit at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust was facing an increase in demand for Endoscopy services. The Trust is one of the top-performing NHS Trusts as rated by the Care Quality Commission and CHKS. It is one of the largest Trusts in the northeast, with hospital services being delivered from Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington and three modern general hospitals in Hexham, North Tyneside and Wansbeck.
Due to our professional links with similar establishments and members of Northumbria NHS Trust, the Northumbria Trust made initial contact with Gastro Teams Seven 7 limited (Elite Teams) regarding the provision of our services.
The bespoke service involved the provision of endoscopy lists during weekdays delivered by accredited consultants. This was a challenge as we only work with staff working substantively in NHS. However, robust planning and effective communication with the Trust and Elite Teams staff ensured that we delivered regular lists for nine months until the services were interrupted by the Covid pandemic.
THE OUTPUT:
- Provision of regular weekday endoscopy lists over three different sites
- Service flexed to meet variations in demand and involved covering lists at short notice
- On average, 23 JAG points completed per day
- Two-week wait and surveillance cases routinely managed within the service.
THE OUTCOMES:
- The work of Elite Teams enabled the trust to increase capacity utilising their nursing team and premises
- The trust was able to avoid patient breaches and avoid prolonged waiting times and was much better prepared for the pandemic as a consequence
- Value for money as the service was offered at almost 50% discount to the tariff
- The measured KPIs for all the procedures were much better than national standards
- There were no safety concerns
- Use of local staff ensured minimum disruption to the trust’s day-to-day operations as they integrated well with the host staff.
FEEDBACK:
- We received multiple compliments from local staff and patients about the high quality of the clinical work delivered and the proactive attitude from our dedicated team.
- The endoscopy manager fed back, ‘‘Fantastic service, we would have sunk without you all.’