When faced with rapid increase in Covid-19 cases and restrictions that were put in place to stop the spread of the virus, health and care teams across the region worked rapidly to make changes to the way they deliver services in order to keep patients and staff safe.
Many of these changes are captured in the Rapid Insights report, published today (Tuesday, 22nd September) by the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership in collaboration with the Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN).
This report provides many examples of innovative solutions devised by health and care teams across the region to support the needs of patients and local communities in a safe way during the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. The report provides analysis of the changes to help health and care organisations to improve the way they provide services both now and in the longer term.
Dr Nigel Wells, Clinical Lead, Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership said: “It has been clear that we have prioritised the safety of patients and staff through innovations and service improvements, and there has, and continues to be, commitment among colleagues to provide the best possible service to patients and clients within the restrictions and challenges that Covid-19 has brought.
“We believe that our communities will benefit for many years to come if we can learn from the changes made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and use this learning to shape how we provide care in the future. In the wake of rising numbers of Covid-19 cases across the country, it is more important than ever to learn from our responses to ensure we can continue to provide the best possible care in these very challenging circumstances.”
Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive of the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, added: “This evaluation work is vital to better understand the impact of the changes that were made to allow the health service to continue to function as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. We have seen how many rapid changes and service improvements were made to working practices. Previously these changes would have taken at least a few months to design and implement, but they were accomplished in days or weeks.
“We have supported four integrated care systems (ICSs) across the North East and Yorkshire including the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership through the development of Rapid Insights reports to capture the innovations and best practices that should remain as healthcare systems try to go back to business as usual, whilst continuing to respond to the changing Covid-19 situation.”
More than 330 examples of changes and service improvements across Humber, Coast and Vale were identified through the initial request for information that was circulated to organisations, individuals and teams across the health and care sector to inform the HCV Partnership’s Rapid Insights report.
Some of the positive outcomes highlighted in the Rapid Insights report show how increased collaboration between teams and organisations has helped to develop solutions to shared issues and provide mutual aid. The use of technology has enabled staff to continue to care for patients even while shielding. There has been a lot of work from all sectors to continue care for patients as much as possible whilst reducing face to face interactions to protect patients and staff.
The report also looks in more detail at how specific services have been affected through the Covid-19 pandemic and what transformations they adopted to continue delivering care to their patients, in particular focusing on maternity, outpatient and respiratory services.
The Yorkshire & Humber AHSN and the HCV Partnership are continuing to work together to ensure the learning from the Covid-19 response is shared, adopted and adapted where appropriate to continue to deliver quality health and care services that are safe for people across the region.