BrisDoc’s Professional Line wins Innovation award!

The BrisDoc’s Professional Line has been awarded the ‘Innovation Prize 2015’ from The Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Our project began after a Foundation Years (FY) Doctor described a number of “near misses” caring for patients with complex medical conditions whilst on-call in psychiatry. She was shocked that responsibility for this appeared to fall to her alone and that there was no senior support with medical expertise for this group of patients who are known to be more vulnerable to physical illness.

A plan was formed to allow junior doctors training as psychiatrists in Callington Rd Hospital to use the professional line, first in the out of hours period but later in hours as well. For Clinical Coordinators taking calls on the professional line, it would be no different than receiving calls from a nursing home or other care provider in the community. In return we have now formalised the agreement that BrisDoc can contact the on-call psychiatrist (SHO or consultant) for phone support when needed. This has been cost neutral and has had a negligible effect on the overall work load of both services.

This has had a significant impact on the satisfaction of junior doctors, demonstrated in some of our feedback:

“Just to let you know, I had a really excellent BrisDoc experience over the weekend- called them about a patient who had been put onto end of life treatment…with the help of the on-call GP (he was really helpful) I was able to set up a syringe driver with the Community nurses…It was very satisfying to be able to put this in place so quickly (I understand in working hours this has sometimes taken a lot longer) and I could not have achieved it without BrisDoc’s help”.

We believe this arrangement could be replicated in other parts of the country. By working more closely with our colleagues in General Practice we can adapt to the needs of the growing number of Foundation Years doctors to provide the best patient care and create positive experiences which may pave the way to future careers in psychiatry.

Dr Mike Taylor will be accepting the award and giving a presentation on BrisDoc’s behalf at the award ceremony taking place at the Future Inn on the 20th November.