Challenge

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals were struggling to cope with the unprecedented demand for their services, with significant restrictions placed on elective care, leading to difficulties in patients getting the necessary treatment.

In response to this, Vantage was asked by two Trusts in North West London to adapt its Rego platform to enable GPs to obtain rapid access to Consultant advice and guidance across all specialties.

The project was sponsored by Sonia Patel, former CIO of London NW & Hillingdon Hospitals trusts and included: Brent, Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon CCGs, as well as Hillingdon Foundation Trust and London North West University Hospital Trust.

Solution

Vantage Health’s team worked with GPs, hospital consultants and managers to implement Rego, an AI platform with functionality that allows patient information to be sent from a GP, directly to an appropriate hospital consultant; and to allow for the consultant to offer advice and guidance directly to the correct GP.

Interoperability with existing systems such as eRS, EMIS, Systm One and hospital PAS and EPR platforms was critical, as was configuring the security to allow clinicians to access the platform from home. Each of these required the Vantage Health team to work closely with the technical teams to quickly adapt the platform to meet these needs.

Integrating the service with GPs’ local practice patient record system provided them with easy access to information and avoided duplicating data entry, saving time.

Implementation

From April 2020, Rego A&G was rolled out in a phased implementation across all GP practices in Brent, Harrow & Ealing CCGs. Within weeks, the service was also implemented in Hillingdon CCG to connect local GPs to Hillingdon Health Trust and several community providers.

Weekly review meetings allowed the team to track progress together with informal communications on a daily basis. Bespoke, targeted videos and guides were produced to explain the service, and to overcome the issue of not being able to conduct in-person training. This setup was essential during a crisis period, providing assurance to all stakeholders and ensuring the necessary actions were taken, albeit in a more urgent time frame.