We are taking forward video conferencing for the 1200 outpatients' clinics that take place on an average day in Wales, alongside essential new features in the Welsh Clinical Portal to support the virtual consultation.
Many clinicians have already used telephone consultations successfully, supported by access to the patient's health record through the Welsh Clinical Portal. This allows clinicians to view patient details from any location - clinic, office or home, making remote consultation possible.
To support virtual appointments a new digital 'outpatient continuation sheet' will allow the clinician to record the appointment outcome online, without needing to use a paper form.
We teamed up with health boards to 'fast-track' this new feature, which will be ready for User Acceptance Testing in early April.
It means that the consultant will be able to use the Welsh Clinical Portal, wherever they are, to access their clinic list, review the patient record , record the details of the consultation and capture the decision, supporting the complete virtual outpatient appointment.
A report will be generated to enable health records staff to track the patient and retrospectively update the Patient Administration System to ensure that the patient pathway is kept up date.
To support the ongoing management of patients during these extraordinary times, we are also working closely with health boards and clinicians to explore ways in which consultants can view their 'Follow up Not Booked List' in the Welsh Clinical Portal. Enabling this access and visibility will help clinicians make an informed decision about the patients that need to be seen urgently and those that can be re-scheduled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.