NHS partners in Dunstable celebrate national award for role in keeping patients out of hospital

Members of the Single Point of Access team

Programme reviews cases where patients have called 999 for an ambulance but they may benefit from a community services response

An NHS partnership team is celebrating after picking up a national award.

Members of the Bedfordshire Community Health Service (BCHS) Single Point of Access (SPoA) team have played a key role in work to help keep patients out of hospital.

NHS East of England, East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST), BCHS and other partner urgent community response teams have received the Improving Urgent and Emergency Care Through Digital Award at the HSJ Digital Awards 2023.

The award was for the Access to the Stack programme and the use of the cleric digital portal enabler for transferring patients to urgent response teams.

The programme sees BCHS, in its role as a community service provider, review cases where patients have called 999 for an ambulance but they may benefit from a community services response.

This was implemented in November 2022 and has enabled BCHS to respond to patients in crisis in the community with the right clinician for their needs.

It also reduces pressure across other NHS services by avoiding the need for an ambulance being sent to support lower acuity patients.

The patient is seen by a nurse from the primary care at home team, providing a holistic assessment and onward referral if needed, avoiding hospital admission and keeping the patient at home when it is safe to do so.

“This award is recognition for the hard work of partners and exceptional colleagues across BCHS, reflecting a shared commitment to providing patient-centred care and working across traditional NHS boundaries,” said Claire Porter, BCHS Urgent Response Implementation Lead.

“Our amazing Single Point of Access (SPoA) team at Queensborough House in Dunstable have also played a fundamental role in this success, from monitoring the ambulance stack to triage of cases, and should be incredibly proud of themselves.”

The HSJ Digital Awards were held in Manchester on June 23, 2023. They celebrate excellence in digitising, connecting, and transforming health and care.

BCHS has also received a silver medal from NHS emergency care improvement support team for its contribution to the programme.