Agile care in a time of lockdown

Simon Dodds MA, MS, FRCS, Alan MacDonald BSc (Hons), Fay Wilson MBChB, FRCGP, and Terry Young PhD, FBCS, describe the sophisticated planning and work that went into the development of a ‘new generation’ drive-through clinic. Piloted in Birmingham during the pandemic, it allowed patients to simply drive in to see a doctor when conventional appointments were hard to get. The team believes that in future the same model can be used for diagnostics, minor procedures, and to support people with a range of long-term conditions. 

On 21st October last year, the local ITV news channel, ITV Central News, reported on a new way for patients who would normally visit their doctor’s surgery, or another primary care facility, to get checked out – a ‘drive-through’ clinic in Aston in Birmingham. Andy Street, Lord Mayor of the West Midlands, turned up to cut the ribbon, and this piece of news between COVID waves was positioned as a way to break the deadlock between the Government and GPs over face-to-face appointments

‘Drive-in’ movies and ‘drive-though’ fast food have been around for a long time, so what was so special about drive through medicine? Although the launch was low profile, this ambitious clinic in a refurbished warehouse on an industrial estate on Bourne Road, Aston in Birmingham really was radical. Allowing patients to drive straight in to see a doctor is clearly attractive – no more sitting uncomfortably in a cramped waiting room at the surgery; no more access problems from car to chair to couch to chair to car (to chair to home again) for those with mobility problems, and much better isolation if the patient didn’t know whether or not they had COVID.