Elemental customers are adapting their service delivery in these uncertain times and are using Elemental to prioritise, record and track contact and create opportunities for non face to face support, connecting patients into their community. GPs can ‘go digital’ and still refer to Link Workers for anxious and lonely patients.
Elemental is being used in the following ways by Elemental customers to:
1. Identify which patients i n the community are most at risk of social isolation so as to get in contact with them.
2. Review the patient’s situation – if they have any dependents/ caring responsibilities, what matters to the patient and close networks of support and include this on the Elemental case information. The patient can then be prioritised as high/ medium/ low urgency in need of support.
3. Provide Link Worker support over the phone and measure a person’s wellbeing so as to ascertain the level and type of support that is required. Record the outcome of the call, how much time was spent supporting the patient and the baseline wellbeing score and continue to measure and plot wellbeing scores on the platform.
4. Create an intervention specifically around the Link Worker support calls/ check ins.
5. Expand the list of interventions and providers on the platform and co design a package of support that the patient can review and have an input to. Include interventions such as:
a. National phone numbers available for different types of support
b. Register for local food banks
c. Places to order meals with relevant phone numbers
d. Register for local ‘Good Morning’ type services
e. Other local/ regional support
f. Online resources identified
g. Team up with a charity to design a physical exercise activity for example that can be done at home and can be sent to patients
h. Social welfare legal advice by phone
6. Widen the support network for patients by engaging carers in the social prescription plan design and adoption.
7. Set reminders to check in with patients and add/ assign specific tasks for Link Workers.
8. Provide real time reports to commissioners on progress being made for specific cohort groups and report on the continuation of the service.
9. Get status reports on the patient journey generating feedback to Referral Agents.
10. Get a hyper local review of social isolation hotspots and identify if there are any additional service demands on services or gaps in provision.
