COVID19: Reopening Outpatient Services
Research from the paediatric community on the impact of COVID19 on child health and how outpatient services are reopening.
Results of the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit’s snapshot survey on delayed access to care and late presentations in children during the COVID-19 pandemic has been published in Archives of Disease in Childhood here.
The Strategy Unit has also collaborated with the Health Foundation, Kings Fund, Nuffield Trust and Imperial College Healthcare Partners to coordinate efforts and provide analytical support to national decision makers focused on questions around recovery. A recently published analysis of A&E attendance patterns for children and young people since the COVID-19 lockdown can be found here.
Both highlight the emerging unintended consequences on child health from COVID-19 and the importance of restoring paediatric care during social distancing and lockdown.
The RCPCH has published a reflective report of rapid learning that looks at how working practices have changed under COVID-19 here.
A new project published in the Systems of Care section of QI Central shares the rapid quality improvement work to reopen outpatient services at the Great North Children’s Hospital. The aim of the team was to re-engineer children’s outpatient services for the COVID-19 era so patients and their families feel safe, are safe and receive the care they need.
The project shows how quick service adaptation was achieved by applying QI methodology and using local real-time data and patient and staff feedback to drive improvement.
Read about the project in full in our Systems of Care section on QI Central.