17 January 2020

A CNWL team working with young people with mental health difficulties in Milton Keynes has successfully run a QI project to reduce waiting times by increasing use of online appointments.

An increase in demand for services meant that staff needed to consider new treatment options. They teamed up with a company called Healious, who use video calling technology, to provide patients with video appointments online.

Stacey Sharp, CNWL Milton Keynes CAMHS Team Manager, said “QI methodology helped us to identify which patients would benefit from video appointments.

“This was key; as it allowed patients to receive treatment quickly, and therefore patients not suitable for video counselling could be seen quicker in the clinic. It has other benefits too such as saving on travel time for patients.”

Alongside new technology, the team also recruited a new clinical lead and additional staff to allow more patients to be seen. Since these changes were brought in there has been a 27% reduction in waiting times for treatment.

Matt Jarrad, Milton Keynes CAMHS Service Manager said, “Over the last year the team has been committed to the project and I’m happy we got to share our team’s success with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement when they visited the Trust in December.”

Stacey Sharp, CNWL Milton Keynes CAMHS Team Manager said, “QI methodology allowed the team to identify the process needed to ensure that change was a success and was sustainable.”