Our analysis shows that the NHS backlog is now at over 14 million patients. You don’t need me to tell you that it has grown too big and is in a state of crisis. In the last 10 months we’ve been living in a world that feels like The Upside Down, (and Covid is the Demogorgon) as we spend our days in lockdown, hiding from the monster outside.
Even in doing so, the backlog has continued to grow, as the necessary extra precautions needed to make it safe for patients and staff to attend services in hospitals remains strict.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel, and one day, which is now within sight, the disruption caused by Covid will begin to clear, and we will be ready to recover and reset. And one of the biggest recoveries will come from our NHS.
Trusts have already taken steps to meet some of the recovery milestones, but capacity remains constrained. Healthcare needs a reset, and at DrDoctor we believe technology is the answer. Through integrated digital patient engagement, we can help the NHS with their backlog recovery.
To start making a notable impact, the first thing hospitals must do now is Waitlist Validation. In its simplest form, this is enabling clinicians to spend more time with the patients that need care the most.
The first step to increasing capacity is confirming the need of the patient. The DrDoctor Quick Question tool validates whether a patient still needs to be seen by asking them simple yes or no questions. The tool is frictionless and requires no IT integration so you can start using it next working day. If a patient’s condition has improved, they may no longer need their appointment, freeing up space and reducing the size of the waitlist.
We have seen the use of Quick Question reduce a clinics backlog by 12% in just 5 days. That’s all it takes to see immediate results.
The next step is to keep all patients updated. Should they be attending hospitals? What restrictions are in place to keep them safe? What services are running? With DrDoctor Broadcast Messaging, updating all your patients at once gives them a greater understanding of their care journey, a better experience, and reduces risk of DNAs.
With the patients you have left on the waitlist who have confirmed they need care, by using DrDoctor Assessments you can then triage the clinical urgency. This ensures the right patient is seen at the right time, depending on the severity of their condition, maximising the time they get with the clinician.
And the best part is, the NHS will see immediate improvement in patient risk management, and those results will be evident within just one week.
The DrDoctor Patient Engagement Platform is here to help you get ahead of your backlog NOW. Because ultimately, we love the NHS, we are here to make it work better, and no one wants to fight the Demogorgon alone.