Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has introduced a collection of virtual access guides for the Horton General Hospital in Banbury and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre to make it easier to navigate both hospitals.
The online guides offer details on key access routes and facilities throughout the two hospitals, covering 39 wards and departments at Horton General and 29 at Nuffield. The resources were developed with help from the information platform, AccessAble and Oxford Hospitals Charity, with the aim to “make visits easier and more reassuring for patients, visitors and staff with a wide range of accessibility needs”.
According to the trust, each resource has been “co-produced with people with disabilities to ensure every detail is accurate, relevant and empowering”. Surveyors were also sent to both sites to assess entrances, lifts, lighting, parking, toilets, signage and assistive listening systems, followed by a period of testing these areas in order to create the guides which are now free to use on the OUH website.
Speaking on the purposes of the guides, as well as the potential benefits, Simon Crowther, interim chief executive officer at OUH, said: “We want everyone who comes to our hospitals to feel confident and supported. These guides allow patients and visitors to plan ahead, reduce anxiety and focus on the reason for their visit.”
As part of their wider commitment to enhance the patient experience, OUH recently introduced ambient voice technology to a range of their services, giving clinicians more time to interact with patients. This was part of a pilot, which trialled the use of AI in both inpatient and outpatient services, including cancer outpatients, community paediatrics, dermatology, ENT, critical care, diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism.
Improving patient access across health and care
In June, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust also introduced a collection of virtual access guides through AccessAble, providing patients with support on routes and facilities within Bradford Royal Infirmary. Using 360-degree virtual imagery, the system allows users to “explore hospital departments and wards in advance” through an interactive interface, with the aim to support patients, visitors and staff who have “a wide range of access needs”. Users are given a map of the hospital and can select from a number of areas to explore, with the tool offering key information on drop-off points, accessible toilets and seating areas.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust partnered with AccessAble in July to provide detailed access guides for patients of King’s College Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital. The guides give patients information on different departments, wards and services through photos and videos of these areas, while also providing facts and figures that might be helpful for accessibility, including lighting levels, ramp access routes, walking distances, accessible toilets and the location of Blue Badge parking bays.
We recently caught up with Ellyn Gattlin, national transformation lead at X-on Health, to discuss access optimisation and the relationship between better access and patient satisfaction in healthcare. We covered key data points for measuring access, the importance of digital skills within the workforce and ways to support better access, with Ellyn sharing insights from her own experiences looking at the patient journey.
