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Solihull Healthcare Partnership Announces New Winter Plans

From the 12th October 2021, Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) will, as part its winter plans, be offering our patients face-to-face consultation for the vast majority of patient encounters, as well as a new winter pressures service at the new SHP Blossomfield Hub.

After months of planning and preparation, we will be offering patients more choice with our winter pressure plans, meaning that;

• SHP Patients will be offered face-to-face consultation for the vast majority of patient encounters. Consultations will only be by telephone or video if the patient reports symptoms and signs of suspected or confirmed COVID-19, or elects to receive a telephone or video call. Our carefully trained Care Navigators will ask screening questions during their telephone or reception desk encounter to determine if the appointment is appropriately face-to-face, as well as the patient being given an indicated time for their appointment.
• For the last 18 months, we have been offering predominantly urgent on the day appointments in order to meet patient demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From the 12^th October, patients will be offered more choice of booking appointments in advance. Through effective care navigation by our Care Navigation team, patients will be offered urgent or routine pre-bookable appointments, and will be able to book appointments 2, 7 or 14 days ahead or routine appointments in advance.
• We are also planning to offer further online appointments, where appointments will be available for patients to book with a clinician through our Care Navigation team.
• We are dedicated to continuing to further upskill our Care Navigators with a programme of additional training and development to support our clinicians, and to ensure our patients see the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time.
• The way we all access and receive health services has changed, and our Care Navigators also have the ability to sign post our patients to supported community services such as the community pharmacy consultation scheme, emergency eyes assessment clinics, social prescribers, mental health support and acute secondary care services to ensure the patients obtain the right healthcare support for their symptoms.
• We will also have a new winter pressures service for our patients at the new SHP Blossomfield Hub from the 12th October, located at the previously named Blossomfield Surgery site. In order to anticipate and support with the additional demands of acute illnesses this winter, we will have enhanced clinical capacity with allied healthcare professionals joining the clinical team. The SHP Blossomfield Hub will be operated by Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Nurses specialising in minor ailments, Physicians Associates and be overseen by GPs. The Care Navigation and clinicians’ team will be able to identify patients that can be directly booked in for face-to-face appointments at the SHP Blossomfield Hub. Please note this service will not be for walk in or emergencies, or act as an alternative to A&E, however it will provide additional appointments to assist with the Winter Pressures.
• The SHP Blossomfield Hub will also provide an Ambulatory Assessment Unit for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients. All patients with suspected COVID-19 related symptoms will primarily be assessed and managed by remote consultations by clinicians at all SHP sites. If a clinician requires a further face-to-face assessment for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, to determine if they can be managed in the community or require a hospital assessment, the patients will be booked into the Ambulatory Assessment Service. At this point the patient will be directed to a separate entrance called the AAU, where they will be initially triaged and assessed by a Healthcare Assistant before being reviewed by the SHP Blossomfield Hub Doctor. The AAU will facilitate the cohort of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 being effectively managed in the community, whilst maintaining patient and staff safety with infection control.
• In order to restore and recover primary care, SHP is dedicated to ensuring patient continuity particularly for groups of patients with chronic health conditions, cancer and on the gold standard frame work for palliative care. When patients contact us, our Care Navigators will ensure patients are booked with the relevant healthcare professional from their surgery site or preferred clinicians to facilitate continuity for patients. In addition, nursing and allied healthcare professionals, alongside dedicated non-clinical teams, will be affiliated to sites to support patients with continuity.
• Our Acute Care Team continues to grow with the recruitment of new members. The Acute Care team consists of GPs, allied healthcare professionals such as Physicians Associates, Physiotherapists and Advanced Nurse Practitioners, as well as the dedicated Contact Centre Care Navigators, who are the frontline SHP staff who are pivotal in ensuring our patient sees the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time. The new SHP Blossomfield Hub is an extension of the Acute Care team and the additional resources will support and manage the demand from the winter pressures ahead.
• In addition, we are continuing to deliver our action plan to improve patient access. As well as recruiting and training Care Navigators, we are constantly monitoring and reviewing our telephone system to try to respond to the maximum number of callers we possibly can. We are planning to make further changes to improve telephone answering, which will take effect from the 18^th

Whilst the GP's and all healthcare professionals at SHP are continuing to see patients face-to-face, as well as offering telephone appointments, as we have done throughout the pandemic, we are delighted to announce these changes as part of our winter pressure plans and the enhanced face-to-face capacity we can offer our registered patients, including the new SHP Blossomfield Hub service.

We are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and every member of the SHP team are working harder than ever to allow us to deliver the primary care patients need, and to deliver our intentions of wanting to provide the best care we can as an organisation recognising the challenging demands on General Practice.