Across the country, members of the Simple Telehealth Community of Practice are using Flo’s rapid pathway design capability and unparalleled operational simplicity to give Flo a significant role in their local COVID-19 response plans. Members have developed new targeted pathways to enable the earlier safe discharge of patients post COVID admission at scale and pace.
Utilising Flo to extend the reach of the hospital team after discharge, emerging pathways are targeted at safely releasing valuable bed capacity as we enter a new phase of the pandemic and a difficult winter. A number of pathways are already supporting patients across the country with many new pathways in development.
Florence & Oxi@Home: Northern Care Alliance NHS Group and University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust /Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust launch virtual ward for Covid-19 patients
The Northern Care Alliance (NCA) virtual ward model supports patients post COVID admission for up to two weeks post discharge, and NCA have designed three specific pathways tailored to areas within the organisation’s geographical reach and ensuring local clinical relevance.
The pathway is now enabling clinical teams at NCA to be able to safely discharge patients home earlier whilst maintaining a sense of connectedness between the patient and clinician that provides both reassurance and confidence for patients to be able to understand when, and if further clinical intervention is required and clinicians to provide a supported discharge.
University Hospitals of North Midlands and Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust are partnering to deliver an Oxi@Home programme enabled by Florence. The aim of the project is to increase acute bed capacity at the Trust by provisioning a safe opportunity for patients to measure and report their oxygen saturations and pulse at home post discharge and receive clinically approved guidance on what action to take, or helpful reassurance that symptoms are being managed appropriately at home.
Ashfield PCN implements Florence Covid-19 Virtual Ward in only 5 Days!
The Community of Practice underpinning Florence has enabled Ashfield North PCN to be able to access and build upon the learning shared from other areas who have recruited Flo to their COVID virtual ward team. With similar ambitions, Ashfield [North] PCN have been able to provide access to Florence to support safe and early discharge of Covid-19 patients within five working days. Clinicians are now able to support patients to safely manage any symptoms for two weeks post discharge, and clear pathways are defined to enable timely escalation of care should this be required.
Jayne Birch Jones, Change Management Lead – Assistive Technology, Connected Nottinghamshire says:
“ We have just gone live in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire today [Tuesday 15th December] using Flo for community pulse oximetry service for patients with Covid. This is aimed at supporting patients with Covid who may need extra support in the community and preventing hospital admissions.
Our staff are really excited about using Flo for this cohort of patients. Emma, the Team Leader has been astonished that we have set this up in a week; from agreeing and testing the protocol, identifying the new processes and training the trainer. Many thanks to Hannah and Kylie [the Florence team!] for their brilliant support. We look forward to sharing our outcomes.”
For further information on Oxi@Home funding opportunities via NHSxplease see here.
