The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) has established a virtual meeting to enhance partnership working between consultants in the east of England.
The first virtual regional meeting was held on 30 June, with PAHT representatives being joined by colleagues from Basildon University Hospital, Queen’s Hospital, Romford, and Lister Hospital, Stevenage. Colleagues from Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, and Southend Hospital are also part of the group and will be joining later meetings.
The group plan to roll this out to a wider cohort of hospital colleagues from the east of England region when the next meeting takes place in September. The representatives are usually the elected leaders (chairman and vice-chairman) of the consultant bodies, from any medical speciality.
This group has been established to create a networking opportunity with the consultant leaders from neighbouring hospitals, working together to improve local services for patients and share best practice. It is expected that this will empower both patients and the clinicians (consultants) to shape the services in a way that meets the needs of the local community.
Dr Dev Dutta, consultant in anaesthesia and critical care medicine, and chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee at PAHT, has been leading on this work.
He said: “I understand that this is the first meeting of its kind in the country and it went very well.
“As we continue to build on this success, consultant leaders of different specialities will bring in a more diversified approach in understanding other specialities. This diversity of the group will strengthen our position in identifying innovative and visionary approaches to providing clinical services for our patients.
“We are working to develop our close working with our Patient Panel, together with the patient groups for other hospitals in the group, to shape the way that care is provided for the future.”