Solent NHS Trust leading the way in treating COVID-positive patients most at risk of hospital admission
A Portsmouth resident has praised the friendly and professional nurses at St Mary’s Hospital in the city as she went through a new and innovative service designed to help treat COVID-positive patients most at risk of being admitted to hospital.
Solent NHS Trust teams worked in collaborative and agile ways to set up a COVID-19 infusion service at St Mary’s Community Health Campus, which launched in February this year.
The service sees symptomatic, Covid patients who have received a clinical review from consultants at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and are at high risk of admission, referred into Solent’s service a few days after their positive result. They then are then booked to attend a short, two-hour appointment to receive monoclonal antibodies and are discharged on the same day.
Heather Hancock from Portsmouth shares her recent experience of the service.
She explains: “I had not heard of the infusion service. They called me to give me an appointment the next day and confirmed where to go which was followed up by an email and map. On arrival, I was collected from the car park by a lovely nurse who put me at my ease. I was introduced to the other nurse in the room and they both explained the procedure. My veins are not very good and the nurses had problems finding a suitable vein for the cannula. They did not give up and were very patient and caring and finally managed to put the cannula in so I could have the infusion. During the whole procedure the nurses were friendly and professional.
“The infusion is quick and can be done at the local outpatients - I was in and out within 2 hours.
“I think this is an excellent service if it stops vulnerable people from becoming very poorly with Covid or being hospitalised.”
Dan Baylis, Chief Medical Officer at Solent NHS Trust, said: “It is fantastic to see nursing, pharmacy and estates colleagues working together in the shared goal of delivering great care to patients who are COVID-positive and have high-risk medical conditions, and providing high quality treatment on an outpatient basis in a non-acute setting, all quickly and conveniently.
“This service is a prime example of people not ending up in an acute hospital bed unnecessarily and offering more cost-effective and appropriate treatment long term.”
“We are proud to be one of the first NHS Trusts in the region rolling out this service as we pride ourselves on forging new and bold ways of delivering high-quality health and care services which support people’s health and independence, no matter who they are or where they live.”
With funding secured from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS), the service is guaranteed to run until April 2023.