Northampton General Hospital is utilising Robotic Process Automation technology to help plan the care of COVID-19 patients.
Using software robots that replicate typical manual human processes, the tool completes tasks that typically would have required human input. It means staff time can be used elsewhere and the technology can support accurate data capture and processing.
The company behind the technology, Automation Anywhere, is valued at $6.8 billion, and late last year completed a £290 million raise. The technology or bots can be programmed to perform various administrative or repetitive tasks.
The development of this new software at Northampton General was initiated as the hospital started to treat more patients with COVID-19. The Hospital said “many patients who would come to hospital with COVID-19 often experience breathing problems and need ventilation treatment to help them breathe more easily. As the number of patients needing this treatment increases the oxygen usage also increases. Although there are no anticipated problems with supply, the team wanted to ensure they had as much data as possible about the oxygen levels on site. Historically this process involved a person manually logging onto a system every hour for 24 hours and physically going to the tanks to capture a reading. While this method worked the team saw an opportunity to use RPA to make the process more efficient and minimise the human input required.”
In 12 hours the technology was used to create and deploy a bot which allowed the trust to monitor the oxygen levels 24 hours a day without human intervention. This means that the team can use their time to support other areas of the hospital while still gaining an accurate and constant flow of information.
Hugo Mathias, Chief Information Officer “Managing the supply and flow of oxygen has never been more important. Automating the collection and sharing of this data has given valuable hours back and increased confidence that we offer the best level of patient care.”
A hospital spokeswoman said “We are proud to have been able to create and implement something so quickly to support the hospital.”
“We know that using automated systems and robotic technology helps to ease pressures. Now is the perfect time to be using technology to support us in making things easier for our staff. Not only will this free up their valuable time but we can now also look at exploring other way of using technology in healthcare.”
