3 minute read
The International Affiliate Network – a pathway to better patient care
Sarah Cartledge speaks to Alistair Russell, Head of Business Development at Imperial Private Healthcare about their latest venture to ensure better patient experience
Ensuring the best patient care is a constant battle for healthcare institutions around the world. It starts from the bottom up – to ensure a quality standard of care, an entire organisation must be operating efficiently throughout, and always striving to improve.
For this reason, Imperial Private
Healthcare is developing a new collaborative membership, the International Affiliate Network, to ensure care pathways are seamless between Imperial Private Healthcare and member organisations, and promote the development and training of healthcare.
Imperial Private Healthcare is managed by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, one of the largest teaching hospital groups in the UK, and has private patient units on each of its five hospital sites across north and central London: • The Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital • The Thames View at Charing Cross Hospital • The Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Wing at
Hammersmith Hospital • The Sir Stanley Clayton Ward at Queen
Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital • The Western Eye Hospital
“Each of the five hospitals has a long track record in the research and education sphere, influencing clinical practice nationally and worldwide. We provide private patient healthcare in dedicated facilities on our sites, including our prestigious flagship facility, the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s,” says Alistair.
Building an international presence
The vision of the new project is to create a global network of aspirational healthcare organisations from all corners of the world, working with Imperial Private Healthcare to improve patient care.
“The network’s ethos is principally around developing healthcare capability around the world, improving healthcare in the regions where we continue to receive patients,” says Alistair.
“It’s about supporting the patient experience. We work collaboratively with healthcare professionals to complement and develop local healthcare by advancing clinical services and extending pathways of care with an overseas referral pathway to Imperial Private Healthcare.”
Dedicated relationships
In order to develop new care pathways and improve existing ones, member organisations work with a dedicated relationship manager to agree a programme of bespoke education and advisory services which are specifically tailored to their own objectives.
Crucially, especially in the age of coronavirus, this programme can be delivered online, locally, or at Imperial Private Healthcare’s London facilities.
“The pandemic has actually helped because these days we’re used to doing everything remotely,” says Alistair. “Now Imperial Private Healthcare is set up with so many digital solutions that we’re in a much better place than we were six months ago. But you can’t take away the fact that our clinicians will be having an in-person relationship with member hospitals. Our teams will go out to the hospitals and support them in their development, and to perform teaching and training. We also hope to welcome them to Imperial Private Healthcare.”
Furthermore, establishing complex overseas care pathways will potentially enable patients to be discharged back to their local hospital sooner than they would be with a standard overseas referral, making the patient journey that much easier.
The Imperial Private Healthcare advocacy service will also make an invariably challenging experience as straightforward as possible for those who may find themselves in an entirely unfamiliar part of the world – benefiting both patients and hospitals.
In addition to the mutually beneficial patient pathway, members also receive tailored benefits – allowing them to receive dedicated advisory services surrounding clinical change, pathway design, technological integration, and governance advice.
“We want to help our member hospitals improve as individual organisations and build a referral network on a global scale,” says Alistair.
The network is available to overseas members now and the first affiliate will be in place this year. “Our plan is to expand the International Affiliate Network worldwide and we will always be open to conversations”,’ he says.
“The key point for us is that we are really invested in improving and advancing healthcare at the local level and building from there.”
If you would be interested in joining Imperial Private Healthcare’s International Affiliate Network, please contact Alistair Russell, Imperial Private Healthcare:
Alistair Russell Director of Business Development Imperial Private Healthcare
Contact Information
Alistair.russell1@nhs.net
