Derbyshire healthcare service marks milestone treatment for vulnerable patients

DHU Healthcare is celebrating the new way in which clinically vulnerable patients can access treatment to reduce the risk of serious illness with the organisation gearing up to mark the NHS’ 75th anniversary.

Since December 2021 the team at DHU Healthcare have undertaken 7,500 assessments and provided treatment to more than 2,000 people. The community interest company provides NHS services including 111, urgent care services, and out of hours care to patients across Derbyshire and the rest of the Midlands.In 2021, the organisation launched a clinical service that provided a number of treatments to reduce the risk of serious illness that can arise among vulnerable people testing positive for Covid-19.

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It was the first time in the UK that such medication was available outside of a hospital setting and was designed to reduce the risk of serious illness and a hospital admission.And now the essential and, potentially life-saving, initiative is now accessible digitally which means that if an ‘at risk’ individual tests positive for Covid all they have to do is fill in a short online form and will be contacted and assessed by a clinician to discuss treatment optionsKirsty Osborn, deputy director for Urgent Care at DHU Healthcare, said: “When we introduced them, these treatments and clinics were an essential part of learning to live with the virus. Over time it has evolved and we continue to provide it for patients who test positive but have underlying health conditions that could put them at risk of a hospital admission.“We are now much better at recognising who will benefit the most from this form of treatment so, to speed up the process and ensure we can provide it in a more timely manner, we have devised a digital form that takes a matter of minutes to complete. The patient won’t have to wait in a queue, be referred or triaged; if they have underlying health conditions, the form will come straight through to us and we can contact the patient promptly to speak to them and take it from there.”