Keep up to date with the latest news from the programme.

• Dr Linda Charles-Ozuzu blog: Commitment, energy and enthusiasm
• Dr Linda Charles-Ozuzu blog: Long Term Plan will be a game changer
• Director’s blog: Managing demand for elective care services
• Director’s blog: Giving care in the right place, first time

Elective Care handbooks

The national Elective Care Transformation Programme has helped more than 60 integrated teams to introduce and evaluate innovative solutions in 14 elective care specialties since its work began in March 2017, and has seen up to a 3% drop in GP referrals.

With the publication of handbooks sharing learning from rapid testing of transformation of general medicine, neurology and radiology elective care services, best practice, knowledge and expertise from each of the elective care specialties supported is now available.

Interventions that were tested in this wave included:

• personalised care planning: Liverpool introduced a community geriatrician to undertake comprehensive geriatric assessments of frail patients living at home, reviewing their medications, looking at their care management plan, and addressing their or their carers’ concerns. Twenty two patients were seen, an average of two medications each were stopped, and advance care plans were put in place for three patients, including information about their preferred place of death.
• community migraine clinic: in Salford, headache is the most common neurological problem seen in A&E, with up to 205 people a month attending Salford Royal Hospital. The team set up headache workshops as part of a new community migraine clinic led by a specialist nurse, to offer patients more in-depth consultations and advice than were previously available.
• improving communication to reduce missed appointments: a telephone reminder service tested by north east Essex reduced non-attendance rates for radiology appointments among almost 300 patients to 2%. A phone survey also explored reasons for non-attendance: 43% forgot the appointment or forgot to cancel it, 98% said a text reminder would have been helpful.

The handbooks have practical “how-to” tips including how to get the right people involved from the beginning, negotiate internal processes at pace, and choose the right metrics for different projects.

They supplement handbooks already published on transformation of gastroenterology, musculoskeletal (MSK) and orthopaedic services, diabetes, dermatology, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat (ENT), urology, cardiology, general surgery, gynaecology and respiratory elective care services.

Over the course of five waves, each lasting 100 days, local systems worked with us to run rapid testing of innovative approaches to transform elective care and ensure patients see the right person, in the right place, first and every time.

For even more information and support to transform elective care services, email ECDC-manager@future.nhs.uk to join the interactive Elective Care Community of Practice. The Community of Practice is for everyone working to transform elective care. Sign up to collaborate, transform, share, and tap into expertise from across the country.

First Contact Practitioner specification

A specification for MSK First Contact Practitioner services has been published, setting out the actions that commissioners need to take to ensure direct access to these services for people with joint and muscle pain.

This is to support national roll-out of the service, in line with the commitment in the NHS Long Term Plan to expand the number of physiotherapists working in primary care networks, enabling people to see the right professional first time, without needing a GP referral.

Consultant to Consultant Referrals Good Practice Guide

1 May 2019

Our Consultant to Consultant Referrals Good Practice Guide helps systems to ensure referrals between consultants are made with the same rigour as referrals made by GPs.

More information is available on the Elective Care Community of Practice.

Community of Practice membership

The Elective Care Community of Practice has almost 1,000 members and the number is growing all the time. Why not join the health community that is transforming elective care up and down the country?

First Contact Practitioner

We are supporting local areas to mobilise the First Contact Practitioner service which helps patients get faster treatment for back pain, arthritis, and other muscle, bone and joint conditions. In February, the news release attracted national media coverage.