Case study: Isle of Wight NHS Trust

Medefer working the Isle of Wight Trust to reduce elective backlogs has evolved into a long term partnership supporting multiple specialities.

Context

Since 2020, the Isle of Wight Trust has partnered with Medefer to deliver a remote-first, consultant-led virtual outpatient service.

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is the only fully integrated acute, community, mental health and ambulance care provider in England, serving a population of around 140,000 residents.

Based at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport, the Trust provides a comprehensive range of health services across the Island, with 246 beds and over 22,000 admissions annually.

Originally established during the Covid-19 pandemic to reduce elective backlogs, the collaboration has evolved into a long-term solution that strengthens system resilience, supports local clinicians and provides timely access to specialist care closer to home.

​​​The partnership continues to underpin the Island’s elective recovery efforts, supporting multiple specialties and ensuring sustainable capacity.

Approach

• Subcontract partnership: Where all NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) referrals across supported specialties are directed to Medefer.
• Remote-first consultant model. With all clinical decisions made by consultants, ensuring safety and consistency.
• Integration with local Trust diagnostics. Allowing patients to access investigations on-Island while being managed virtually by Medefer specialists.
• Collaborative governance. Between Medefer and the Trust, ensuring safe escalation and clear pathways for in-person review when needed.
• Ongoing support across multiple specialties, including:
  • Urology
  • Clinical haematology
  • General surgery, colorectal and upper GI
  • Gynaecology
  • Gastroenterology and hepatology

Activity and performance

Building on the strong foundation of pandemic-era recovery, the partnership has now delivered:

• Over 28,000 total referrals managed to date
• ~6,000 referrals per year across active specialties
• Average time to first consultant review: 0.8 days
• 57% of patients managed remotely, discharged to their GP without requiring hospital outpatient attendance
• 43% of patients referred for in-person hospital review or diagnostics
• Rapid responsiveness with 85% referral YTD reviewed within 24 hours of receipt.

Outcomes and Impact

The partnership has achieved sustained success in supporting the Trust’s elective recovery goals:

• Rapid access. Average consultant review within 0.8 days, ensuring timely triage and risk management.
• Sustained RTT improvement. Through ongoing elective recovery support.
• Reduced demand. For hospital outpatient appointments, with more than half of all referrals managed virtually.
• Freed consultant and operational capacity. Allowing the Trust to prioritise urgent and complex in-person cases.
• Seamless escalation pathways. Maintaining safety and continuity across virtual and physical care settings.
• Award-winning innovation. Recognised with the 2023 HSJ Partnership Award for Elective Recovery.

Voices from the partnership

“Our partnerships play a huge role in being able to provide high-quality healthcare to our Island community. Our work with Medefer means that we have been able to ensure our patients received access to specialist responsive care using the Medefer virtual outpatient service.” – Victoria Lauchlan, Director of Operations, Planned Care, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, St Mary’s Hospital

“The safe implementation of the Medefer virtual platform has been easy to navigate; in collaboration with our clinical and operational teams, Medefer has been agile, flexible and responsive to our needs. It has been a phased, managed approach and resulted in faster access to patient care for our community.” – Joe Smyth, Chief Operating Officer, Isle of Wight NHS Trust

“Getting appointments in a timely manner – I didn’t have to wait long for a gynaecologist appointment.” – Patient feedback

“Helpful and quick. I was seen by a consultant much sooner than I had expected, knowing the length of current waiting lists.” – Patient feedback

“Excellent. The care that I received was unbelievable, especially through the Covid period.” – Patient feedback

Strategic takeaway

The Isle of Wight partnership demonstrates the long-term value of Medefer’s remote-first model in sustaining elective recovery, enhancing system resilience and delivering specialist-led virtual care within an integrated health system.

By combining digital innovation with local diagnostics and robust clinical governance, this model continues to provide safe, rapid and equitable access to specialist advice, ensuring patients on the Isle of Wight receive high-quality care, close to home.