IMPROVING PROCESSES AND RESPONSE TIMES FOR GASTROENTEROLOGY REFERRALS

Introduction

The need to increase effective clinical communications is particularly critical within the gastroenterology team due to sheer volume of referrals received daily. The aim of this project was to streamline the referral workflow using a single point of access. This platform would operate to standardise the referral process to assist clinical decision making and initiate earlier treatment.

Methods

Using the clinical communications platform, Bleepa, clinician teams were able to view their inpatient referral pipeline, triage, and communicate about and action referrals from all sources on a single programme. A quantitive analysis of the average number of hours taken to first interaction, first acceptance and first release was performed. This was compared to a control group in the same timeframe which used the manual paper-based processes previously used across the hospital site. These processes relied heavily on administrative staff managing incoming referrals and distributing them to clinicians in hard-copy format.

Results

Over a period of six months, from April to September 2021, 571 referrals were made across the hospital site. Results are reproduced in Table 1; Bleepa Usage Statistics.

Conclusions

Since adopting Bleepa, the gastroenterology teams involved have seen a considerable reduction in time taken to accept and complete referrals. At the site involved, the gastro team improved the average time to accept a referral by 56% and the average time to complete a referral by 49%. These findings met the team’s wider aspirations of standardisation of the referral process and achieving more efficient patient referrals. Broader benefits have been identified in the pilot phase with 100% of all inpatient referrals being managed without administrative support. Further benefits were identified by the study including increased accountability and handover within the team, as well as more clinical time for patient care.