Personalised follow-ups at Norfolk and Norwich saves 29,000 outpatients appointments in one year

An NHS England pilot at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) to give patients and their carers more flexibility over their follow-up appointments is now benefitting over 30,000 patients. Embedding Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) in outpatients is enabling a personalised approach to follow-up care and has avoided 29,000 unnecessary appointments in one year.

A partnership between digital suppliers, Infinity Health and DrDoctor, has enabled the trust to roll out the digital PIFU service, helping clinical teams to review patients remotely and enabling patients to book their appointments digitally.

One year into the project, 31,862 patients with long term conditions or who have had surgery or treatment, are on a PIFU pathway. Of these, 2,389 (7%) have booked an appointment, saving at least 29,473 appointments in one year, although it is likely to be more as patients often attend more than one appointment per year. Clinicians remotely monitor appropriate patients using digital assessment forms, with 1126 returned for review over the 12 months, therefore with the time spent reviewing the forms, the time saved is closer to the equivalent of 29,022 appointments. Patients are only attending hospital when necessary, freeing up appointments for those who need them the most.

Routine follow-up appointments can be inconvenient, stressful and an unnecessary expense for patients, including booking time off work, arranging someone to come with them and paying for travel. Through PIFU, patients can decide if they need an appointment and request it via the DrDoctor app at a convenient date and time. Patients have welcomed the changes, with an average of 4.2/5 patient feedback rating. 

Clinicians across 30 specialties are able to monitor their patients on PIFU pathways, remotely. Infinity Health’s task management platform integrates with NNUH’s Patient Administration System (PAS) to send assessment forms to appropriate patients, at regular intervals decided by each specialty, and clinicians can efficiently review these and prioritise patients safely. Patients who do not engage are identified to ensure that they are catered for, mitigating the clinical risk as no patients are lost to follow-up.