The Government is expanding a program to allow people to receive healthcare closer to home or in their community, rather than going to the hospital.
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that the Advice and Guidance Scheme will be expanded. This is in order to help people get off long NHS waiting list and back to work more quickly.
The scheme allows GPs to collaborate more closely with hospital experts to gain expert advice and to speed up their patients’ journey through the system.
It is hoped that patients will be directed to better community care, such as receiving medication from their GP or undergoing blood tests and scans, or being treated in a women’s hub or community physiotherapy service, rather than waiting on long NHS lists.
The expansion comes after data showed that between July and Decembre last year the scheme resulted in 660,000 treatments being diverted from hospitals to the community. This is a 60,000 rise on the same time period of the previous year.
The DHSC stated that women who seek gynaecological treatment, such as hormone replacement therapy for menopause-related symptoms, can benefit from the scheme.
By avoiding referring women to gynaecologists and instead advising them to seek advice, GPs could prevent the addition of people to the waiting list in secondary care for gynecological treatment, which currently stands at over 580,000.
The DHSC stated that 30% of patients with ENT issues were referred to secondary care. This included conditions such as tinnitus and ear wax removal. As of February, there were 634,000 people on the waiting list for ENT.
Health Minister Karin Smyth stated: “By treating patients closer to their homes, we save time and prevent masses of people from having to go to hospital for unneeded appointments.
“We’re rewiring NHS to do things differently, more effectively and deliver better outcomes for our patients.” “This scheme is an excellent example of how we can save patients time while reducing the pressure on NHS services,” she said.
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