The Planned Care programme of work is bringing together GPs and hospitals in Sheffield to improve and redesign some key outpatient and planned healthcare services. This work aims to reduce health inequalities and speed up referrals making the services easier, better and quicker for patients.
Several working groups have been set up to deliver the planned care programme of work. These working groups meet regularly and following aims and ambitions have been defined.
The Planned Care Board
After viewing information about different clinical specialities, the Planned Care Board agreed its areas of focus on shared, cross-system opportunities and challenges.
Joint Executive Group
This group of Executives and other senior leaders come together to unblock barriers, take key decisions, and confirm next steps within Partner Organisations for the programme. Work will include:
- Focussing on one or more symptoms which cut across multiple specialities, and across different settings of care (i.e. primary and secondary). The confirmed symptoms are breathlessness and transient loss of consciousness. A ‘Flow’ approach has been agreed, this started in the Autumn of 2021.
- Initiatives such as: patient informed follow up, strengthening the CASES model and enhancing triage arrangements, telephone and video consultations for all specialities.
- A cross-systems diagnostics workshop was held with community phlebotomy (blood testing), spirometry (lung testing), Portable Oxygen Concentrator (POC) and blood gas testing as early areas where we need to seek to develop a community-based diagnostic model.
Elective Care Task & Delivery Group (ECTaD)
The ECTaD Group work to keep the projects moving at pace. Some of their work includes:
- Overseeing the actions of the last meeting, new developments and next steps.
- Identifying points of escalation for the Joint Executive Group.
- Agreeing key messages to communicate to stakeholders.
Community Diagnostic Centres (CDC)/Phlebotomy Focus Group
This groups aims are as follows:
- Design and deliver a CDC service that is equitable, accessible, safe and effective to the full population of Sheffield.
- Design and Deliver a Phlebotomy Service.
- Deliver additional physiological tests services such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and Spirometry using a phased approach utilising the development of an available, multi-skilled workforce.
