The PCL team boasts a broad range of both commercial and healthcare experience. This allows us to think both creatively and innovatively around obstacles and challenges in order to give patients the best possible care and outcomes.
PCL has been an active partner at the forefront of the LLR Covid Vaccination Programme from its inception. We have been successful in introducing innovative, versatile and efficient ways of delivering vaccinations. We carefully considered the barriers to vaccination and sought ingenious and thoughtful ways to overcome them.
The Covid-19 vaccination roll out was unprecedented. A dynamic, fast-paced yet thorough response was essential. PCL brought together a collaborative working group with many partners in order to tackle the issue. This group was tasked to deliver solid results at pace and under time constraints.
The working group included:
Our dynamic mobile units/pop-up clinics were able to take the vaccination service out into the heart of the community.
PCL and the working party has been praised for their commitment and contribution to making the LLR Covid-19 vaccination delivery such a success.
A Drive-thru vaccination site in Leicester has been welcomed as a convenient option for both
younger adults, and people with long-term health conditions who were too worried about
possible risks to go elsewhere for their COVID-19 vaccinations.
The service is commissioned to run from a site next to County Hall until the end of June 2022
and offers potential capacity for around 720 vaccinations a day.
Its size and location were behind the decision to operationalise the service, with commissioners
anticipating it would help to drive uptake in 18-30 year olds of first, second and booster doses
and help parents who can drop-in without needing to arrange child care or take young children
out of their cars.
Since launching in early February 2022, staff have found it’s also attracting immunosuppressed
patients who feel safer, as they are able to remain in their own vehicles and others for whom it’s
more convenient than booking and parking for appointments elsewhere. People with phobias
and anxiety, including someone who needed a support dog with them, have also used the
service.
“It’s opening up a new avenue to more people,” said Heather Hoskins, C-19 Operations &
Delivery Lead at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Patient Care Locally (LLR PCL)
“We’re also seeing tradespeople who happen to be passing, families with young children and
even people who’ve come in from other cities who have found out that this is now available.”
The service is open from 11-7pm and has been promoted across the region, in newspapers, via
social media and online.
We were contacted by a shareholding practice who needed to improve their Health and Safety compliance levels. A number of staff had left and the practice had fallen behind on their compliance audits.
The Patient Care Locally Compliance Team did an initial assessment and found that unfortunately the facility only achieved 20% compliance. The team worked with the practice to develop a detailed action plan which prioritised the areas of greatest need.
Over the course of a few months, the team kept in close contact with the practice via emails and phone calls, whilst the practice worked through the plan. The practice has just been re-audited and the team was delighted that their compliance rating has now increased to 84%.
The practice identified the problem and were eager to seek Patient Care Locally’s support to find a resolution via detailed assessment audits, customised action plans and assistance with risk assessments.
Patient Care Locally’s approach is to work in collaboration with practices, offering support and setting attainable objectives which result in excellent and sustainable outcomes.
Patient Care Locally was asked to use its expertise in streamlining referral pathways to support cancer services, in order to better manage the growing number of referrals and to ensure that those patients with a cancer diagnosis receive their care in an appropriate timeframe.
The UHL Haematology services approached Patient Care Locally as they had identified that a number of referrals being received via the current pathway did not meet the requirements for 2WW. The services did not have a route to easily downgrade referrals or give advice to the referrer without the referring GP re-referring the patient.
Benefits of the service provided by Patient Care Locally include only appropriate 2WW referrals are received by UHL Haematology teams, patients are kept informed throughout the whole process, referrals can be downgraded/advice given/rejected without taking up additional GP time.
The table below shows that the majority of patients referred on this pathway do not have a cancer diagnosis. This pathway enables the haematologists to identify those who do not have cancer and put the patient on a more appropriate pathway whilst also allaying they fears. Thus clinical capacity is freed up for those with cancer.
Patient Care Locally were asked to support University College Leicester in overhauling the referral service and pathway for patients put on the 2WW brain pathway.
In order to successfully streamline a pathway, it is important to understand the existing processes. Our team identified a number of different stakeholders and handover of care points involved in the diagnosis of a patient. Due to the low number of referrals, there was a nervousness around the understanding of process amongst General Practice.
In collaboration with the ICB Cancer Clinical Lead and University Hospital Leicester, a new pathway has been agreed which reduces the number of handover of care points and ensures there is a continuity of care, with all referrals coming via the Patient Care Locally Referral Support Services and managed by Patient Care locally’s clinical and administrative team. Patients are kept informed at every step of the pathway and are seen quicker.
The Referral Support Service clinician orders the MRI and receives the results and actions the appropriate pathway. The table below shows that the majority of patients referred on a brain 2WW pathway do not have cancer. A significant number do, however, have incidental findings on their MRI. The Referral Support Service clinicians will action the next stage of this pathway, keeping the patient and their GP informed.
