One-Stop Shop

After publishing my first blog post, I’ve been a little quiet online—but busy with work. I built this website myself with zero prior experience, thanks to a conversation with my neighbour (cheers, Mike—I owe you a beer). He said, “You’re a smart guy. You can do this yourself! It’s not that hard!”

He was right. Well, at least about the website part! Joking aside, I’ve really enjoyed setting it up. What’s been even more rewarding is receiving a few queries through the site from patients I was able to help the very same day.

Having spoken to thousands of patients over the past few years, I’ve seen how challenging it can be for both NHS and private patients to access timely assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Delays in getting an initial consultation, referral for a scan, or subsequent treatment often lead to weeks or months of unnecessary pain, distress, and sometimes even loss of income.

Companies like Amazon have set the bar for speed, efficiency, and reliability — people know exactly what they’re going to get. That level of service has become the expectation in many areas of life, and rightly so. Healthcare should be no different when its possible. With the right collective effort, we can do better.

That’s the philosophy behind the “One-Stop Shop” clinics I’ve been developing in collaboration with surgeons and other clinicians. In these clinics, patients can have an MRI scan, receive a hot report immediately, and then see a surgeon with the results to make decisions about their painful knee or troublesome shoulder.

This approach has been very well received. It only works thanks to close teamwork with the admin staff, radiographers, and fellow clinicians.

Just think of the days, sometimes weeks, saved by this simple pathway.