Virgin Care Single Point of Access
Monday 15th October 2018
Virgin Care is making it easier to access Wiltshire Children’s Community Services, enabling children and their families to get the help they need more efficiently.
The new Single Point of Access (also known as SPA) – a single website, telephone number, email and postal address for all referrals and questions about the services Virgin Care runs on behalf of the local authority and the NHS – launched this week.
The SPA will be the first point of contact for children, young people, families, GPs and health and social care professionals to reach and access child health guidance and support from Wiltshire Children’s Community Services.
People can contact the team on 0300 247 0090, via email vcl.wiltshirespa@nhs.net or by visiting wiltshirechildrensservices.co.uk.
It’s the culmination of two years’ work improving services – developing clearer referral criteria and completing moves to four new, purpose designed hubs dedicated for both colleagues and children and families in Wiltshire – and also delivers another milestone on the organisation’s plans in implementing its five year roadmap to deliver improvements in patient care.
During this process a group of colleagues were recruited to join the team and trained in identifying referral routes across all services, to provide expert support and advice to the parents, carers and health and education professionals across Wiltshire.
Val Scrase, Head of Operations for Wiltshire Children’s Community Services, said: “Our new Single Point of Access will help us provide a truly integrated referral and advice system, enabling our expert team to process referrals more quickly so people can begin their treatment sooner in the services they need.
“In setting up a SPA, we’re fulfilling one of the key requests made by parents and carers when the service was recommissioned. Children and families will now find services more accessible, with service delivery remaining the same with no changes made to the way they’re run.”
Ted Wilson, Director of Community Services and Joint Commissioning for NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We are committed to ensuring that all children and young people with additional needs are identified early. This new way of delivering integrated services is to enable children and their families to have easier access to care and support when they need it most.”
