An innovative mobile diagnostic service is helping patients across Swindon and Wiltshire receive hospital-level tests in the place they call home, avoiding unnecessary journeys and admissions to hospital.
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is working with partners to deliver a Community Diagnostic Vehicle, which brings services including X-rays, ultrasound, invitro diagnostics (IVD) and urinary tract infection (UTI) testing directly to patients in the community.
In its first eight weeks, the service has supported 53 patients in their own homes, with 91 per cent avoiding a journey to hospital.
All of the patients who avoided hospital remained at home 30 days later, with none subsequently admitted to hospital.
For the five patients who did need to attend hospital, their imaging had already been completed at home, meaning they could arrive with results available and avoid waiting for an X-ray in the Emergency Department.
The pilot has also:
Rob Presland, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Trust, said: “Bringing diagnostics directly to people in their own homes has the potential to make a significant difference, both for our patients and our hospital services.
“For some of our more vulnerable or frail patients, travelling to hospital can be incredibly challenging and disruptive. By taking services such as X-rays to them, we can provide the diagnostics they need quickly while, wherever clinically appropriate, helping them remain in the place they call home.
“The results from the first eight weeks are really encouraging. As well as improving patients' experience of care, the service is helping to reduce pressure on our urgent and emergency care services, hospital beds and ambulance colleagues, by freeing them up quicker to get back on the road.”
The Community Diagnostic Vehicle is provided by Sovereign Talents in partnership with FujiFilm, as part of a wider partnership involving Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, HCRG Care Group, South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust, Health Heroes and Medvivo, which provides the NHS 111 service.
Radiology Support Workers from the Trust travel in the vehicle to patients' homes, working alongside Sovereign Talents colleagues. Equipped with a portable X-ray machine and other diagnostic equipment, the vehicle can help clinicians identify a range of conditions, including fractures.
The impact of the service can be seen in the experiences of individual patients.
One 78-year-old care home resident living with dementia received an X-ray in her care home after a fall. It quickly identified a dislocated shoulder, enabling hospital teams to fast-track her treatment. She was treated in the Emergency Department and returned to her care home on the same day, avoiding a lengthy hospital stay and minimising disruption to her familiar surroundings.
Another patient, a 60-year-old man who is registered blind and has a phobia of hospitals, was being treated at home after standing on glass and developing an infection in his foot.
When the infection did not fully respond to antibiotics, the Community Diagnostic Vehicle carried out an X-ray at his home. This ruled out any remaining glass but identified early signs of a bone infection, allowing him to continue receiving IV antibiotics through Hospital at Home and avoid a potentially distressing ambulance journey and hospital visit.
Adam Bailey, Founder of Sovereign Talents, said: "The CDV shows what’s possible when a hospital, community teams, ambulance services and an operational partner work as one. Working with South Western Ambulance Service, Health Hero, HCRG Care Group and Great Western Hospitals has been a real pleasure, and so much has been achieved in a short space of time. We’re only just getting started.
“Our job at Sovereign Talents is to make it simple for the NHS. We wrap around existing services and initiatives, providing the infrastructure, workforce, clinical governance and reporting, so teams can achieve what they set out to do and focus on their patients. Putting the patient first is key. Together with Fujifilm, we are the extended diagnostic arm of frontline teams who would otherwise have had to send a frail patient to hospital. We are typically on site with patients for half an hour, and we ensure all results and decisions are made within that time, helping to prevent unnecessary ED attendances before they happen.
“Colleagues truly understand the vision and the potential: not just the financial benefit of keeping patients out of hospital, but the knock-on effects for beds, ambulances and the Emergency Department, not to mention the almost immeasurable impact on patients’ wellbeing. In many ways, GWH has been pioneering and our ambition is to extend this across the rest of the region, allowing more patients to get answers in the comfort of their own homes."
Following the positive early results, funding has now been secured to continue the Community Diagnostic Vehicle throughout November as the winter period starts.
Plans aim to roll the service out more widely to include eligible patients registered with a Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire GP, who choose Great Western Hospitals as their usual hospital, increasing the number of patients who can benefit each day.
The service could also support improvements against the Emergency Department four-hour standard during the busy winter period, while creating further education and training opportunities for Allied Health Professionals and supporting the development and retention of the workforce.
Rob Presland added: “What is particularly exciting is the potential for this model to grow. We have seen in a relatively short period how bringing diagnostics closer to home can benefit patients while freeing up capacity elsewhere in the health and care system.
“Securing funding to continue the service through November gives us an opportunity to build on what we have learned, reach more patients and explore how this innovative and forward-thinking approach to care can support communities across a wider area.”
Great Western Hospital
Marlborough Road
Swindon
SN3 6BB
