The Future Hospital development site team at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in north Wales are working to bring access to specialist care for frail elderly patients living a considerable distance from hospital.
Bringing care to the patient
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board serves a rural population in north Wales. Noticing the risks that come with frail and elderly patients travelling to hospital, the project team set out to provide virtual consultations closer to home. The project uses teleconferencing technology in local community clinics to connect people to their doctors in hospital.
The Betsi team provide insight into their project's progress in March 2016.
Successes
- Travel time saved: the team have successfully carried out 179 patient consultations using the new teleconferencing video technology, saving an average of 65 minutes travel time for patients.
- Patient satisfaction: over 80% of patients would recommend the virtual consultations to friends and family.
Services are tailored to meet the needs of individual patients, including vulnerable patients
Challenges
- Security: the team took great care to ensure the security and quality of the teleconference connection between the hospital and community clinics.
- Project expansion: As more people take part in the virtual consultations, eligible patients in the area available to take part are continuously shrinking. The selection criteria of patients will need to be expanded which will require input from other medical specialties.