Background
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust had been experiencing increasing pressure within its Pain Management service, including a backlog of untyped clinic letters, delays in moving patients into the correct treatment pathways and overall challenges in managing routine clinical flow. Health Now was commissioned to provide weekend pain clinics to support service recovery and improve waiting times.
What Health Now Delivered
1. High Clinical Throughput
Since Health Now began supporting the service, clinics have consistently processed a strong volume of patients with clear clinical outcomes. The distribution of treatment decisions demonstrates accurate triage, guideline-aligned care and effective clinical decision making.
Clinical Outcomes Delivered
- Medication start or adjustment back to GP: 28 patients
- Psychology referral: 17 patients
- Added to intervention waiting list: 22 patients
- PIFU: 1 patient
- Referral to Ipswich or CUH: 2 patients
- Discharged: 4 patients
- Medication start or adjustment with follow-up needed: 8 patients
- TENS: 3 patients
- MRI requested: 3 patients
- Intro to pain referral: 11 patients
This reflects a well-balanced clinical pathway, ensuring patients receive the appropriate next step rather than remaining static on waiting lists.
2. Administrative Backlog Reduction
At the time of reporting, all clinic letters generated through the service have been typed, with only around sixty letters left outstanding. Most of these are from the most recent weekend clinics. Earlier letters have been prioritised to ensure longest-wait patients receive communication promptly.
This is a key improvement area, as admin delays frequently contribute to extended RTT breaches across pain services.
3. Improved Pathway Movement
The data shows strong patient flow through multiple layers of the pain pathway:
- Conservative management
- Psychology
- Diagnostics
- Pharmacological support
- Interventions
- Discharge where appropriate
This demonstrates that Health Now is not simply “seeing patients” but meaningfully accelerating their journey through the correct treatment steps.
4. Measurable Service Impact
Since Health Now took over weekend clinics, the service has achieved:
- Faster patient processing
- Rapid reduction in clinic letter backlog
- Clear, accurate treatment planning
- Greater movement onto intervention lists
- More patients receiving the care they need without delay
Conclusion
Health Now’s structured, efficient and clinically robust approach has delivered significant improvements to the Pain Management service in a short period of time. Through high-quality weekend clinics, strong administrative support and consistent pathway management, Health Now has helped the trust reduce bottlenecks, improve patient flow and ensure patients receive timely care.
This case study demonstrates the tangible value of Health Now’s insourcing model and its effectiveness in supporting pressured NHS services.