Oxford’s Consultant Connect helps 200,000+ patients avoid unnecessary hospital trips
Oxford-based telemedicine provider Consultant Connect has celebrated a successful 2023, saving more than 200,000 patients from needless trips to the hospital.
Its technology provides expert advice and guidance from consultants to GPs and paramedics across the UK, ensuring patients are only referred when absolutely necessary.
Throughout the year, healthcare staff placed 400,000 calls and sent one million photos through the platform.
CEO Jonathan Patrick said: “Long waiting times caused by unnecessary hospital visits are a huge drain on the NHS.
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“Our technology has gone a long way in the battle to resolve this, and we’re proud that more than half of calls made using our technology helped to avoid unnecessary hospital visits for over 200,000 patients.
“Our service now covers more than half the NHS, including across all of Wales. We’re determined to continue working towards clearing waiting lists across the country.”
Consultant Connect has also become the UK’s most widely used teledermatology platform, with clinicians sharing patient images for remote review by consultants. Previously, they’d often have to wait hours to speak with a named consultant or receive a call back.
Dr Emamoke Ubogu, a GP in Birmingham and an early adopter of the platform, added: “As a GP, our training in dermatology is quite limited.
“It’s likely we’ll see more use of digital tools in dermatology, especially taking photos and sending them to specialists. The specialist often only needs to see photos in addition to the medical history in order to make a diagnosis.
“Consultant Connect has a variety of features on the app.
“In particular, there’s a feature which allows me to bring up a patient's details and save any referrals using their NHS number, which is very helpful. Uploaded photos are also saved in the patient’s record.
“I think if GPs knew there was a tool that would help save time, they would be willing to adopt the tool.”
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