30.06.2016
Croydon’s reorganised anti-blood clotting services receive praise
A survey of patients using anti-blood clotting services has found that users are happy with the reorganised service, delivered by one provider.
Anticoagulants are medicines that help prevent blood clots. They’re given to people at a high risk of getting clots, to reduce their chances of developing serious conditions such as strokes and heart attacks.
Last year, the delivery of anti-blood clotting (anti-coagulation) services was reorganised. Originally delivering in six locations comprised of GP surgeries and pharmacies, the new contract was successfully awarded to Boots UK Ltd, following a procurement process. Boots UK Ltd now provides this service through nine sites, three in GP surgeries and six through its pharmacies. Healthwatch Croydon visited eight locations running the service in April and May 2016, and spoke to patients using the services gaining over 100 comments.
In general the service was praised, with 75% saying they were positive about the services, particularly waiting time, general quality of service, and distance they had to travel. Healthwatch Croydon observed that most patients were seen within 10 minutes of their arrival, regardless of their appointment times. Of the 17% negative responses, these mostly related to the layout and environment of the pharmacy and distance to travel. This was particularly significant at Boots Purley, where some patients had to stand while waiting for their appointment.
Charlie Ladyman, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Croydon said: “To meet patient demand, the NHS needs to allocate services away from GPs to other places in the community such as pharmacies and find efficient ways of achieving quality care. It is good to see this change has been such a success for both patient and provider. This is a model of good practice for future reallocation of services. However, the CCG need to ensure that any future reallocation of services are effectively consulted with, and communicated to, the patients.”
Babar Shafiq, Commissioning Programme Lead Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group said: “I would like to thank Healthwatch Croydon for producing the anticoagulation report. The CCG welcomes the report and the comprehensive patient experience data it contains. The report will guide the future patient engagement of the programme.”
You can view the trend and comments reports here.
See the coverage we received to this news item in the Croydon Advertiser.
