Self-referral platform for physiotherapy

My Topol fellowship problem / project:

Using protected time for the Topol project will allow me to take a step back from busy patient-facing clinics to think creatively about the type of solution we’d like to offer patients and to compare and contrast what’s currently available to purchase.

If they can refer themselves to physiotherapy, we’d hope to shorten the patients journey to receiving physiotherapy treatment and free up essential clinical time in GP surgeries. We’d also like to reduce some of the administrative burden both in GP surgeries and our own Service in receiving and processing referrals, too.

It is hoped that the detail within the referral given by the patient would allow accurate and automated triage and that any clinical pathways which underpin this decision-making could be modified to reflect arrangements in our local Trust. We’d like any ‘artificial Intelligence’ and ‘machine learning’ capabilities to recognise serious symptoms and safely advise patients to seek other help (urgent care or their own GP) as appropriate too.

I’ve been working in my current advanced practice role for 12 years, noting the digital transformation taking place starting with the move towards electronic patient records and digital dictation systems in 2009.

I’ve developed a keen interest in understanding and configuring systems to suit the needs of clinicians, administration teams and our patients, recognising the need to regularly revisit digital transformation and innovation to refine systems and processes to meet our evolving Service needs.