FLEXIBLE ESTATE Surgery
111 WMAS & UTS Case
Bourne Road Call centre
Ward A&E Streaming Ambulance
Multi-site centres
GP Booking KEY Self-booking
Tangible (Physical Flow) Intangible (Information Flow)
ED Booking
Figure 6: A schematic showing the complexity of patient and information flows needed to make sure that a pop-up clinic works well with other healthcare facilities such as hospital A&E departments and GP surgeries.
the next sprint. If not, it goes back around the loop once more to improve the design and come up with something better.
Minimum viable product A minimum viable product is the simplest way that the team can find to satisfy the customer, and the great pressure is to get something out there that can be tested.
Figure 8: An architect’s drawing of part of the final pit-stop design that was verified virtually using a complex physical simulation model.
Once the customer takes the product, the team can get feedback about what needs to be changed or improved. In a sense, this is a story about
three minimum viable products in the Birmingham and Solihull area: (a) A Temporary Rapid Assessment
Centre in one car park at the NEC next to the (temporary) Nightingale
Hospitals (April-July 2020). (b) Temporary drive-through clinics in portacabins and unused spaces at four sites including Hobmoor Road and Slade Road (May 2020 – the present). Two sites are still running. (c) A permanent online patient-
bookable, no-wait drive-through clinic in a converted warehouse on Bourne Road (October 2021 – present). The capabilities of this centre continue to be developed.
A four-way integration challenge In each case, there was a four-way integration challenge to be addressed. First, it was necessary to ensure that the clinical service could be provided safely and effectively. Next was the question of designing the layout for passengers and pedestrians to gain safe, easy access. Third was the modelling for throughput (and then verifying those predictions through measurement), and lastly, building an information system that enables GPs, hospitals, and patients, to access it and book slots. Figure 4 shows the transformation of
the first service at the NEC, while Figure 5 shows a bird’s-eye view of the next minimum viable product at Hobmoor Rd and Slade Road.
Information management On-demand services require advanced information systems to ensure that patients appear at the right place at the right time. Moreover, if cross-referrals are needed between an A&E department and a drive-through clinic, or between the clinic and the patient’s own GP, an interface is needed to handle this, too. BADGER (Birmingham And District GP Emergency Room Ltd) uses Adastra as its main clinical information system. Additional information flows were required to enable the drive-through care booking system. Figure 6 gives some idea of the complexity of this requirement, with the physical movement of patients in black, and information in orange. A similar challenge lies at the heart of any time-
26 Health Estate Journal April 2022 Home
Enhanced Case
Home Visit
Case Streaming
Telephone assessment
Drive-through care website
Figure 7: A physical transfer hub using the novel software solution.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
