The Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) initiative, which is available through the digital platform, DrDoctor™ now has eight more clinical pathways due to go live in the coming months.
Since the launch in 2021, 42 pathways and four cancer specialisms begun using PIFU.
Some of the teams already using PIFU include Therapies, Behçets and more recently Cardiology - the Heart Failure pathway has 97 patients successfully transferred to PIFU since going live in May - this has been achieved through the help of our Innovation, Quality Improvement and Digital Teams.
DrDoctor™ allows patients who are suitable for PIFU to contact their clinicians and book appointments from the comfort of their own home.
The PIFU initiative empowers patients to decide how and when they see their clinician for follow-up appointments. This means patients only attend appointments when they and their clinical team feel it is necessary, personalising care, reducing stress, costs, time and inconvenience.
This also allows services to be more responsive to urgent cases, reduces the pressure on service waiting lists for follow up appointments and minimises missed appointments.
Toni Malone, Quality Improvement Project Manager, said, “This is an exciting advancement and really helps our patients take charge of their care. Quality Improvement means we are continually listening to our patient’s and ensuring we are treating them in the best and most efficient way.
“Twelve more services are expecting to integrate PIFU into their clinical pathways via DrDoctor™ over the coming months.”
To find out more about how your area could benefit from innovative technologies, please submit an idea by emailing OPDProgramme