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Behind the scenes at our contact centre - meet Stuart, our patient care advisor

I am a patient care advisor based at our contact centre in Cobalt.  I work within the Referral to Treatment (RTT) and Referral Management Service (RMS) teams which aim to improve patients’ access to healthcare.

My role is to make sure patients are receiving care and treatment promptly in line with national waiting time referrals to treatment request targets for NHS hospital services.

This involves making sure we have approval to proceed with treatments in line with criteria set by our regional Integrated Care Board (ICB) which is responsible for ensuring high-quality and safe health services are accessible to our communities.

I also oversee printing appointment letters to patients who request printed copies using our patient portal. Patients can also access these either online by email or text via our patient portal or on the NHS app.

A typical day for me involves working through a list of patients whose treatment requires approval for NHS funding.  For example, hip/knee replacements, spinal injections, or minor skin lesion removal. This involves checking their clinical record to find out what’s happening with the patient’s treatment and or if they meet funding criteria.

I update our patient list reports and follow up with their care team keeping them informed about if their patient’s funding has been approved and gathering information if there are any hold-ups. This also involves identifying additional funding requirements if necessary.

The biggest challenge for our team is keeping on top of targets. The RTT target is 92% of all patients should be treated within 18 weeks of referral.  In the current environment, no NHS trusts are meeting this, but as a team and with the support of colleagues we have consistently been able to keep ourselves among the best performing in the country.

I really enjoy investigating and problem-solving in my role.  It is so rewarding when you resolve an issue or reach a target/goal as you know it’s contributing to patients getting the care they need at the earliest opportunity.  I’m proud that our role can make such a positive difference in improving patient experience of healthcare services.