Case Study
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust - Urgent Community Response and Frailty Virtual Ward
Introduction
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Urgent Community Response (UCR) and Frailty Virtual Ward (FVW) services in North and Mid Hampshire provide assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients at home, with the aim of caring for patients in their own homes and avoiding unnecessary admission to hospital.
Up to 85% of patients accessing these services do not need to go to hospital and can stay at home with the right support. The multi-disciplinary team provide advanced clinical support and therapy experts, working as a joined up service alongside adult social care, so patients are seen by the right person, at the right time and by the right service.
Older adults, especially those experiencing frailty, can be complex to assess and require timely treatment to avoid rapid deterioration.
Point of care testing (POCT) can support rapid patient clinical assessment in the community, including helping to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions, in line with NHS England guidance2 .
Service Implementation
The UCR and FVW at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust implemented the point of care LumiraDx Platform and CRP test into their services in November 2023 to support antibiotic treatment decisions and antimicrobial stewardship.
The LumiraDx Platform can be used for community and mobile testing, being a lightweight (1.1kg), fully portable, multi-test Instrument, providing lab-comparable CRP test results in 4 minutes. All LumiraDx test strips are room temperature (2 – 30°C) storage and use allowing added convenience for community testing.
20 clinicians in the UCR and FVW teams were trained, and their local pathology team engaged with and supported the implementation.
Initial Outcomes
Within the first 6 weeks of POCT CRP implementation – Nov 2023 to Jan 2024 – 85 patients were tested using the LumiraDx Platform and CRP test
Positive Feedback
Qualitative feedback from UCR and FVW patients has been positive on the implementation of LumiraDx POCT CRP testing. Rapid testing within their home gave patients peace of mind in the antibiotic prescribing decisions being made by the team.
Feedback from clinical staff has also been positive, with POCT CRP informing conversations with patients and their families on the antibiotic treatment decision.
Being able to provide lab-comparable CRP test results within the homes of patients on the LumiraDx Platform, helped to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and antibiotic prescriptions, positively impacting patient care and outcomes.
"I recently was very ill with pneumonia and sepsis and was in hospital for several weeks. Having my blood checked in my own home gave us all a lot of reassurance that I’m on the mend."
Patient Feedback
"Family members felt certain that their Dad had a chest infection and were strongly requesting antibiotics. POCT CRP supported a non-infective picture and unnecessary antibiotics were avoided."
Clinical Staff Feedback
1. https://www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/our-services/a-z-list-of-services/urgent-community-response
2. NHS England. Integrating in vitro point of care diagnostics: guidance for urgent community response and virtual ward services. Published 29 August 2023. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/ integrating-in-vitro-point-of-care-diagnostics-guidance-for-urgent-community-response-and-virtual-wardservices/ [accessed 9th February 2024]
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