On Thursday 14 July 2022, newly commissioned Spirometry Diagnostic Units (CliniCabins) launched at Rochford Community Hospital and Kestrel House, Chelmsford, enabling greater provision for the respiratory needs of our Mid and South Essex communities.
The new innovative modular units are purpose-built spaces designed
to provide diagnostic support and clinical assessment for patients managing respiratory conditions. The units provide safe spaces for respiratory treatment and improve access to the services which have not previously benefitted from dedicated
stand-alone space. Respiratory patients will no longer need to deal with the challenges of accessing services in busy and shared healthcare premises, where their conditions may make them more at risk from airborne infections in enclosed spaces, whilst still benefitting from being based on accessible health sites.
The new Spirometry Cabins were delivered on behalf of the Mid and South Essex Community Collaborative (MSECC). The MSECC was formed in September 2020 to review how community health services can best meet the needs of the local community. It is a partnership between Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), North-East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) and Provide Community Interest Company (Provide CIC).
The project consists of three Spirometry units to be delivered to each provider within mid and south Essex and is representative of the broader collaborative working initiatives, leveraging the joint expertise and resources of the three partner organisations to provide meaningful impacts to health and care across the region. The final cabin will be delivered to a NELFT facility later this year.
James Wilson, Transformation Director, MSECC, spoke to staff at the Kestrel House launch, outlining the benefit of working together through the MSE Community Collaborative:
“Having these three of these units across mid and south Essex really gives us an opportunity to work as one across the three providers to improve support for service users.
“Taking into account the different restrictions due to COVID-19, it’s been very difficult to deliver Spirometry safely and effectively. Having these new units available means we can deliver respiratory support innovatively for people who may have been unable to access services previously – all while keeping our staff and service users safe in the process.
“This is the type of innovative deliverable we’re eager to build on as part of our collaboration – finding modern ways to provide care and ensuring we do that consistently across our region.”
Beverly Blackwell, Head of Community Nursing, at Rochford Community Hospital, reflected on the journey of developing the new clinical spaces and great result attributed to partnership working:
“It’s valuable for us to reflect on the initial discussions from which the ideas for these new clinical spaces were borne out of, right at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020. Colleagues and I had the opportunity to view initial designs of the cabin. This was a light-bulb moment for us in terms of provisioning Spirometry services during pandemic challenges.
“The end result meant we could utilise these spaces to keep services running without interruption.
“The process, from initial conception to realisation and delivery, demonstrates the value of partnership working across our three organisations and the benefits of operating multilaterally in the interests of all providers to deliver the best result for the community, who need it most.”