Patient-led system shortlisted for Health Service Journal Award

An innovative patient-led appointment system, provided by the Rheumatology Team at Derriford Hospital, has been shortlisted for another prestigious national award.

The Direct Access service, which enables patients with chronic conditions, such as arthritis, to have more control of their treatment, has been shortlisted in the General Medicine category at this year’s Health Service Journal (HSJ) Value in Healthcare Awards.

Introduced in 2011, the Patient Initiated Appointment System (PIAS), currently allows 800 patients to contact a specialist nurse when they are worried about an aspect of their disease. An appointment can then be made quickly, if required, rather than the patients being scheduled for reviews, when they don’t necessarily need them or when their symptoms are not as apparent.

The project was funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), and has been led collaboratively between PenCLAHRC and the Derriford Hospital Rheumatology Team.

Dr Vicki Goodwin is project lead from PenCLAHRC. She said: “The Rheumatology team at Derriford has worked very hard on developing their patient referral 'Direct Access' service in conjunction with their patients and PenCLAHRC. Being shortlisted again is a great boost to their morale and reflects the desire in the team to improve treatment for patients.”

Phil Hawkins, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) Plymouth Chair, said: "The direct access scheme has enabled patients to have more control over the management of their disease by allowing them to see a clinician when they need to, and not when an appointment is due. This has enhanced patients’ confidence both in self-management of their disease, and in being more in control of their lives."

Consultant Rheumatologist and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Dr Mark Perry, added: “The Rheumatology Team should be rightly proud of what has been achieved: including planning with patient groups; managing the huge changes in care delivery; and the evaluation to enable further learning, both for our department and others across the healthcare community. We are working now to ensure that the service is available to all those who could benefit.”

The team travelled to London this week and presented their case to explain why their project should win. They now have to wait until next month to find out whether they have won. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 24 May 2016 at a ceremony at Manchester Central.

Research and evaluation of Patient Initiated Appointment Systems has been led by PenCLAHRC in association with the South West Academic Health Science Network (SW AHSN).

At the beginning of the year, the project was named runner up for Best Practice at this year’s British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) and Musculoskeletal Health Awards.