Super September aims to accelerate delivery of the elective recovery plan

NHS England is encouraging trusts to deliver a ‘Super September’ of accelerated elective recovery plans, as reported in the HSJ. A message sent to trusts by NHSE said that the ‘Super September’ initiative will encourage “creative options that can free up resource” to accelerate the delivery of the elective recovery plan.

According to latest figures, the overall elective waiting list stands at 6.6m, a number which has grown in part as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on occupancy and staff availability.

It is likely that the increased use of patient initiated follow ups (PIFU) will be a significant feature of the initiative. NHSE has set the target of cutting outpatient appointments by 25%, with PIFU at the front of that drive.

The NHS’s most ambitious patient initiated follow up programme is being overseen at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust, with Liaison Group partners, Infinity Health, providing the task management platform to the project. The Trust has categorised around half of its outpatient follow-up list as “possible or probable opportunities” for patient-initiated pathways in the current programme.

To find out more about Liaison Workforce’s mii Tasks solution, powered by Infinity Health, and how the task management platform can support PIFU, please get in touch at [email protected]