GP Care's Community Urology Service is a community based, consultant led, rapid access ‘one-stop-shop’ diagnostic and assessment clinic that is available to NHS Patients as an alternative to attending hospital for three or four separate visits.
The Service is currently delivered from specialist clinics in Clifton, Montpelier, Fishponds, Yate and Nailsea. The Service has been seeing NHS patients with urological symptoms since November 2007 and has received consistent favourable feedback from both patients and GPs as well as delivering significant cost savings to Primary Care Trust budgets.
This community diagnostic service provides assessment and the necessary tests for a wide range of urological presentations that would otherwise have involved patients attending multiple appointments at hospital.
This service is a comprehensive diagnostic and assessment service with onward referrals to secondary care required only for surgical follow-up or complex imaging such as X-rays, MRI or CT scans. Links are in place and work well with the local Hospital Trusts to transfer patients quickly and seamlessly when cancer is diagnosed. Individually and in collaboration wiht the local acute trusts, the national cancer waiting time targets of 14, 31 and 62 days are met.
Waiting times from referral receipt to actual appointment continue to average less than 14 days whilst missed patient appointments (DNAs) are minimal as a result of professional administrative support with proactive appointment confirmations and reminders.
Key elements of positive feedback from both patients and GPs includes: being seen within 2 weeks of referral; having a full 30 minute appointment with any necessary tests including cystoscopy being carried out in this one appointment; appointments running to time; consultant involvement; patients leaving the appointment with a report in their hand and knowing that their GP will receive a copy on the same day; plentiful adjacent parking; and a small clinic environment. All these things represent good patient care and yet appear to contrast considerably with the patient experience in some other settings.
Further Service Developments
GP Care continues to explore options for further development of its Community Urology Service and works with a number of partner organisations in this regard including:
- University Hospitals Bristol Foundation Trust;
- North Bristol Trust;
- Bristol Community Health;
- Bristol Urology Associates; and
- GlaxoSmithKline UK Limited.
