Image source: istock.com/Pithcayanan Kongkaew
Fleetwood Community Diagnostics Centre has become the first of its type to implement the Lenus Health Diagnose product.
It has begun a pilot using Diagnose to automate clinical workflows and reduce time to diagnosis across a range of cardio-respiratory conditions.
The project is aimed at reducing the time for patients to receive the results of echocardiogram tests to produce service efficiencies.
It will also help to build the business case for use of workflow automation software to help streamline diagnostics pathways and establish digital foundations for home based testing for certain conditions.
The implementation is aligned with the updated GP Direct Access policy for heart failure, and the recovery of elective services following the pandemic.
Fleetwood CDC is part of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Lancashire and South Cumbria Diagnostics Collaborative. Lenus has directly contracted with the trust utilising funds locally disbursed for this purpose under NHS England's Community Diagnostic Centre Programme to adopt Diagnose.
Quicker help
Jack Smith, director of the diagnostics collaborative, said: "This is an exciting opportunity to trial the latest technology in clinical practice to benefit our local patients in a community setting. It has the potential to significantly reduce clinical time and speed up heart failure diagnostic waiting times, so people can start getting the help they need more quickly."
Dr Alison Seed, consultant cardiologist at Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, said: “It is really exciting to be one of a small number of centres in the UK to adopt this digital platform approach to our diagnostic clinic. The heart failure team are proud again to be early adopters of new technology and particularly to find that our long established pathways match the vision for all HF teams across the UK so closely.”
She added that the team will share its experience with other centres and special treatment teams.
Lenus Health said the digital tool may ultimately be used in other settings to coordinate resources and tests in the diagnostic pathway, and there is further potential for wider use across the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
The technology will also be rolled out in secondary care settings by the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB, supported with funding from NHS England Cardiac Network.
