Hillingdon Hospitals' latest podcast episode spotlights the Trust's innovative approach to admission avoidance, featuring insights from Duncan Alston, geriatrician, and Usman Ahmed, consultant in acute and general medicine.

The discussion centered on recent efforts to reduce unnecessary hospital stays by optimising outpatient and rapid access care. Duncan shared findings from a recent audit, which revealed that nearly half of admitted patients could have been managed as outpatients. This has driven a strategic shift toward providing more care outside the traditional inpatient setting.

There are three main criteria for hospital admission: physiological instability, specific treatment needs such as oxygen therapy, and significant social or mobility challenges. Patients who do not meet these criteria are now being offered safer and faster outpatient alternatives, reflecting a commitment to both patient well-being and hospital efficiency.

Usman highlighted the success of the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) clinic, which now sees up to 70 patients daily. This service has significantly reduced pressure on the emergency department (ED), contributing to Hillingdon’s recognition as one of London’s best-performing EDs. The conversation also covered the hospital’s rollout of virtual wards, which use remote monitoring technology to track patients’ health at home across a range of specialties, including general medicine, diabetes, cardiology, respiratory, and paediatrics.

To support these initiatives, staff can now access detailed referral pathways and criteria through the Eolas app (available on the trust website in the applications page, or available to download from the app store and sign in using your NHS login), streamlining the process for admission avoidance and ensuring patients receive the most appropriate care in the right setting.

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

New Stop Smoking Clinic

Elaine Hotson, health and wellbeing lead, talk to Sue, our tobacco dependence lead. They discuss our service for staff to give up smoking, and the new Staff Stop Smoking Clinic.

The clinic is running from September 17th on Wednesdays 2-4pm, Location : 1st floor FFP3 hub room - by Theatres entrance ( first floor off the tower block stairs and past the lifts ), Hillingdon hospital

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

Listen to the next podcast episode of Radio Hillingdon's In Conversation series - Molly Arbuthnott, the volunteer storyteller on the Bumblebee Ward at Hillingdon Hospital.  

Molly volunteers her time to meet the children staying on the ward, and to share her love of books by reading them stories. 

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

Join us for the first in the series of 'Radio Hillingdon in conversation' podcasts. 

In the episode, you can hear Radio Hillingdon in conversation with our chief nurse, Sarah Burton. They talk about her role as chief nurse at Hillingdon, about her life and history of nursing, and including some of her favourite selection of music of course.

Radio Hillingdon serve the patients of Hillingdon Hospital, care home residents and the residents of the London Borough of Hillingdon. You can also listen online to Radio Hillingdon live.

Thanks for listening and don't forget to come back for a new episode each Monday!

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

We have started using digital consent for procedures in our hospitals, using a system called Concentric. Concentric is a clinically-led application, with a proven track record, that seamlessly integrates with other digital systems to provide the patient and the Trust with an online record of consent.

In this podcast we hear from Paula Galea, Consultant Obstetrician and Trust Digital Lead for Consent, about the new process for patient consent.

Patients can be confident that they have been given all the necessary information they need, in advance of their treatment. The consent can then be shared to their NHS app and on the NHS patient care systems for complete clarity.

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

In this podcast, Heraldas Gaspariunas, Co-founder and COO at Reneural, is joined by Dr Gabriella Spinelli, Reader in Healthcare Design and Innovation at the Brunel Design School, part of the College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences at Brunel University of London and Director of RADIANT CERSI, a centre for regulatory science and innovation in digital health and healthcare AI.

The conversation focuses on a new collaboration between Reneural, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Brunel University London, supported by NHS England through the New Hospital Programme. Together, the partners are developing a clinician dashboard that works alongside Reneural’s virtual reality rehabilitation platform. The goal is to support occupational therapists and physiotherapists in delivering more effective remote care for stroke survivors.

Gabriella shares her insights on the importance of academic research in shaping digital health solutions and the value of collaboration between universities, the NHS, and industry. The discussion also touches on how projects like this can support faster adoption of innovation within the NHS and improve patient outcomes through thoughtful, research-driven design.

This episode highlights the potential of partnerships to bring meaningful change to stroke care and digital health across the system.

Speakers:

• Heraldas Gaspariunas, Co-founder and COO at Reneural
• Dr Gabriella Spinelli, Reader in Healthcare Design and Innovation, Brunel University of London

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

We will be hosting Learning at Work Week from Monday 12-Friday 16 May, in this podcast we talk about what the week means and the events we are holding.

This national campaign champions lifelong learning and is an ideal opportunity for you to find out more about the various learning and development opportunities available in the Trust for you and your team.

This year's national theme, "Get Connected," underscores the importance of fostering connections to enhance our  learning  experiences.​

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

We are working in collaboration with Reneural and Brunel University to develop an innovative tool for stroke rehabilitation. With funding from the New Hospital Programme, we are undertaking a pivotal initiative aiming to transform stroke rehabilitation through a clinician dashboard that enhances remote interaction, treatment, and monitoring for stroke survivors. 

This project directly supports occupational therapists and physiotherapists by providing a digital platform integrated with Reneural’s Virtual Reality rehabilitation system. 

Victor Harabari (CEO of Reneural) discusses the project and the development.

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

Debora Lopez, project manager, talks about our move to a new learning hub. We will soon be moving to a new Learner Management System called LearningHub. This system will be rolled out across the Acute Provider Collaborative, providing a more efficient and user-friendly training tool for staff.

The LearningHub will hold all your mandatory and essential training (your training record will be moved from iDevelop). Staff can access all learning materials, book face-to-face training, and interact with guides and videos, all in one place, as well as viewing better insights into staff learning and development, enabling more targeted support for training.

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.

Nasser Arif, our cyber security manager, shares best practices around cyber security, including key considerations for NHS organisations in their approach to cyber security. There is extensive work in our Cyber Team, which constantly assesses cyber security maturity, good cyber security practice, and how to support staff in staying safe online.

For all the latest Trust news and information check out our website - www.thh.nhs.uk.