Project Name: Management of Spondyloarthritis Patients at Bedford Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Project Summary:
The Collaborative Working Project (“CWP”) aims to improve the Rheumatology Service at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (“CW Partner”) by actioning the following;
- Manage the backlog of patients in the Rheumatology Service and support and enhance the service thereafter
- Update the Rheumatology database
- Develop and provide patient educational support
The proposed new services will be deployed at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital and consist of the following core elements:
Nurse Led Clinics:
To improve efficiency and care such as time to treatment (T-to-T), a Band 6 Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) will be recruited for 1 year to review a Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) and Axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) to initially review a backlog patient cohort of approximately 640 and subsequently support and enhance the service thereafter.
Establish an Accurate Database
To help the CWP identify sub optimally treated patients more readily, a Band 4 Nurse/Data Manager will be recruited to review clinic letters and update the database to ensure that they have the right disease outcomes recorded.
Digital Patient Education Support
To support patient education, the CW Partner will acquire CONNECTPlus App which will house individual videos to provide drug education. Educational videos will include one for each Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) and one for each Class/Method of Action (MOA) for Biologics. Videos will be edited to meet local needs. The CONNECTPlus App will be disseminated to patients via clinic appointments.
| Milestone | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | CW Partner/Novartis kick off meeting |
| 2 | CW Partner to collect project baseline data |
| 3 | CW Partner to confirm recruitment of
CW Partner to confirm clinical and operational pathway in place, policy and protocol creation, and readiness to begin the clinical activity |
| 4 | CW Partner: Confirmation of CONNECTPlus App has been set up and available for patients in the Trust |
| 5 | Carry out 3 months of clinical operations according to the developed protocols, CW Partner to monitor and collect data, provide anonymised report containing such data to Novartis. |
| 6 | Carry out 6 months of clinical operations according to the developed protocols, CW Partner to monitor and collect data, provide anonymised report containing such data to Novartis. |
| 7 | Carry out 9 months of clinical operations according to the developed protocols, CW Partner to monitor and collect data, provide anonymised report containing such data to Novartis. |
| 8 | Carry out 12 months of clinical operations according to the developed protocols, CW Partner to monitor and collect data, provide anonymised report containing such data to Novartis. |
| 9 | CW Partner to develop business case to support future funding to relevant body within the NHS board. |
| 10 | CW Partner to submit business case to support future funding to relevant body within the NHS board. |
| 11 | CW Partner to submit final report to Novartis and Novartis/CW Partner collaborate to publish Outcomes Summary in line with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) guidelines. |
Expected Benefits:
Anticipated Benefits to Patients:
- Updated records allow for quicker access to NICE recommended treatments
- Acceleration in the number of follow up patients being escalated to NICE recommended treatments which will improve patient experience and QoL
- Treatment Management closer to home plus the ability to involve other members of their family in their condition at the comfort of their home.
Anticipated Benefits to the Organisation:
- Database provides great opportunity to respond to patients need and improve time-to access all NICE recommended treatments
- Improvement in time-to-treatment target for the department
- Virtual innovation, Faster Patient Education and allocation of clinic time to more urgent matter.
Anticipated Benefit to Novartis:
- Increased appropriate use of licensed medicines in line with NICE guidelines, including Novartis’ therapies;
- Improved reputation;
- Improved professional and transparent relationship and trust between Novartis and the NHS
Start Date & Duration: December-2023 for 18 months
UK2312086652