Slashed waiting times win Buckinghamshire team a national healthcare award

Company news

Nov 14, 2012

A Buckinghamshire service that diagnoses and treats a range of musculoskeletal conditions has won a prestigious award for its work in delivering excellent care and cutting patient waiting times.

The service, which operates from eight locations in hospitals and health centres across Buckinghamshire*, was among the innovators recognised at the national Health Care Awards for finding new ways to improve services and standards for Care UK patients.

The team received the Improving Value, Improving Service Award from Mike Parish, Care UK’s chief executive, at an awards ceremony in London. The award, one of eight presented, was given to the team for putting into practice new ways of working which improved the efficiency of Care UK’s services.

The service, which provides physiotherapy and specialist musculoskeletal treatment, has cut waiting times for appointments from 10-14 weeks to 1-4 weeks and has increased the number of new patients seen year-on-year from 1,450 a month to 2,300 a month, with no extra staff and with excellent continuing professional and patient relationships.

The service, which treats NHS patients, conducts full clinical assessments after receiving a referral from a GP. Patients are seen by a multi-professional team who will carry out the assessment and work with the patient to draw up a suitable treatment plan. The services offered include physiotherapy, podiatry, osteopathy, acupuncture, women’s health treatment, specialist GP appointments and classes including Pilates, hydrotherapy and gym rehabilitation.

Manager Michelle Saunders said: “We were delighted to win the award – as we have only been operational for 18 months it has been quite an achievement.

“I have a wonderful team who have worked both with ingenuity and determination to cut waiting times and improve people’s satisfaction with their treatment. Our customer satisfaction surveys are now consistently high across each of our eight locations.”

The Health Care Awards were open to Care UK’s team of more than 2,900 staff who provide expert care and services to patients at GP practices, diagnostics services, special treatment centres, out-of-hours services and prisons across the country.

NHS patients who wish to take advantage of the short waiting times and high quality service can find out more at www.buckinghamshire-music.nhs.uk.