University Hospitals Birmingham NHS FT has shared details of a new web-based app, aimed at improving the ordering process for patient equipment across the region.
The Equipment Locality App (ELA) was reportedly “built from scratch” by Luke Holland, a therapy clinical site coordinator at Good Hope Hospital, with a passion for coding. Through the app, staff can use a patient’s postcode to find out which GP practice and council area they are linked with, making it clearer which supplier to use when ordering equipment, such as walking frames and walking sticks.
According to the trust, using the app “saves a huge amount of time for therapists, allowing them to focus on clinical care and discharging patients”, while also making stock control and tracking “much easier”. Luke reportedly used Microsoft 365’s PowerApps tool to develop ELA, before going on to train his therapy colleagues on how to use it.
Sharing his reasoning behind creating the app, Luke said: “Each locality area, such as Birmingham, Solihull etc., has their own contracted equipment supplier. The problem arises when a patient and their GP are based in different areas across a boundary; therapists need to understand the agreement in place between the two areas to know which supplier to use.”
Speaking on Good Hope Hospital in particular, he added: “We had a complicated matrix on a big spreadsheet detailing all these boundary agreements and found that out of 250 equipment orders per month, at least 18 were sourced from the wrong supplier. I saw this problem and realised that I had the skills to put a solution in place.” Since the app was introduced, the trust has noted, “only two or three orders a month are from the incorrect supplier”.
Developing innovative apps in healthcare: the wider trend
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