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We have been selected by the Health Foundation, an independent charity, to be part of a £3.5 million improvement programme to share advice across the NHS following success offering online patient appointments.

The Scaling Up Improvement programme supports seven projects in the UK to take their proven health care interventions and approaches and make them work at larger scale to have a positive impact on patient outcomes. 

Barts Health aims to expand online appointments across its five hospitals, as well as work with a range of local and national partners including local commissioners, NHS England, NHS Digital and Microsoft to increase the uptake of online consultations in a range of organisations and specialities. The work will be evaluated by academic leads at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science at the University of Oxford.  

Dr Shanti Vijayaraghavan, diabetes and endocrinology consultant at Barts Health NHS Trust said, “I am delighted that we have received this award from The Health Foundation. We have pioneered the use of online consultations locally and this has shown to increase patient attendance rates, improve outcomes and provide more patient-centred care.

“We now propose to create a virtual consultation unit within Barts Health and form a national network of sites working together to learn about using outpatient video consultations and develop  standardised national level policy for the practice.”

The programme will run for two and a half years and the project will receive £471,000 of funding to put their project into practice and evaluate it.

Sarah Henderson, Associate Director from the Health Foundation said: “We are very excited to support seven outstanding project teams who have been selected because of their expertise in scaling complex improvement projects, and their ambition to achieve impact by improving care for patients.

“Working together, as part of the Scaling Up programme, we aim to make sustained improvements to health care by testing out proven interventions at a scale. We hope to see the interventions being widely adopted across the UK.”

                        -ENDS-

About the Health Foundation
The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK.

Our aim is a healthier population, supported by high quality health care that can be equitably accessed. We learn what works to make people’s lives healthier and improve the health care system. From giving grants to those working at the front line to carrying out research and policy analysis, we shine a light on how to make successful change happen.

We make links between the knowledge we gain from working with those delivering health and health care and our research and analysis. Our aspiration is to create a virtuous circle, using what we know works on the ground to inform effective policymaking and vice versa.

We believe good health and health care are key to a flourishing society. Through sharing what we learn, collaborating with others and building people’s skills and knowledge, we aim to make a difference and contribute to a healthier population.

www.health.org.uk