Innovative Cardiometabolic service ensuring faster access to transformative care for patients
Patients who require treatment to tackle preventable cardiovascular disease are receiving quicker access to transformative care after an innovative and collaborative project by the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) Cardiometabolic Service brought waiting times down from seven months to two weeks.
The work has been shortlisted for a prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Award, with the team set to find out if they have won in the Medicines, Pharmacy and Prescribing Initiative of the Year category at the national event this evening (Thursday 20 November).
Through their development of Integrated Pharmacist-led Lipid Clinics (IPLCs), the Cardiometabolic team at Royal Derby Hospital are proactively delivering care for people with conditions such as familial hypercholesterolemia, which can leave people at greater risk of a variety of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks, strokes and vascular complications.
The multidisciplinary approach has seen a Specialist Prescribing Pharmacist integrated within the Cardiometabolic Service to help streamline lipid treatment pathways for patients - both by supporting consultants with diagnosis, and prescribing and facilitating the endocrine nursing team with the delivery of injectable lipid-lowering therapy. This is done through the delivery of three to four clinics weekly, including teleclinics, virtual reviews and injectable clinics.
As well as leading to a significant increase in capacity over the past year, waiting times have been consistently reduced to around two weeks during that time - a major achievement that supports better outcomes for high-risk patients and helps tackle health inequalities across our population, as Harveena Sanghera, Advanced Clinical Pharmacist in Lipidology, explains.
She said: “The integrated pharmacist-led model was designed to streamline the pathway. Through effective triage, patients can be seen by either a consultant or pharmacist for diagnosis, followed by optimisation of lipid management, access to injectable therapies, and counselling on modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. Pharmacist involvement allows us to utilise the most appropriate setting - lipid clinic, injectable clinic, virtual review, or telephone/face-to-face appointments. This multidisciplinary approach has been key to reducing waiting lists and improving access.
"This approach helps tackle healthcare inequalities by reducing waiting times. The longer patients wait, the higher the barrier to accessing lipid management services. Shortening these delays is where the real impact lies - ensuring timely care for those who need it most."
With patients being signposted more efficiently into these clinics, that is allowing greater access to this high-quality care.
Rebecca Kinton, Lead Endocrine Nurse Specialist, was instrumental in setting up the initial lipid service in 2017. She explained how t he early treatments involved training the patients in hospital to self-administer their injections, which they could then do at home - and which has a huge impact for those patients receiving that care, as they can self-manage their treatments and avoid frequent hospital visits.
For those patients who require their treatment delivered in a hospital setting, they are now being seen quicker thanks to the new Integrated Pharmacist-led Lipid Clinic setup, which shows the impact of the whole-team approach.
While the IPLCs are already having a positive impact on the quality and efficiency of care delivered to our community by the Cardiometabolic Service at RDH, the success of the model in delivering a clinically effective and financially sustainable solution means it is now being considered for replication by other departments and regional partners.
“This initiative represents a pioneering approach to lipid management and cardiovascular disease prevention. By creating a pathway that integrates specialist pharmacist expertise, we’re not only improving patient outcomes across Derbyshire but also setting a precedent for collaboration across multiple specialties. It’s a relatively new model, and our goal is to strengthen and expand it further. This marks an important milestone in the long-term mission to tackle preventable cardiovascular disease and transform care delivery,” explained Harveena.
Members of the team - whose impactful work saw them win the Communities and Partnerships category at our recent annual Making a Difference Awards - will be attending the HSJ Awards in London on Thursday, alongside colleagues from the team behind the procurement of our new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, Nervecentre >; and people involved in the East Midlands Breast Pain Pathway's Community Breast Pain Clinics >.