Our finalists for the Health Tech Awards 2022 in the category of ‘efficiency savings of the year’ are as follows:
Alertive
Overview: Alertive’s secure, two-way communication application has been implemented at two NHS trusts.
Why? By improving communication processes through a modern clinical communication product, users can communicate more efficiently and rapidly, enabling them to dedicate more time to delivering patient care.
What happened? Alertive streamlines communication processes between staff members. Beforehand, staff faced challenges when trying to communicate tasks to colleagues, such as not knowing the appropriate person to contact which led to having to call around trying to work it out, and the sender having no way of knowing whether the message has been received. Alertive allows users to be contacted by their role as well as their name, eliminating the first challenge, and it is possible to see when a message has been delivered and read. Alertive supplies pre-set response options so that recipients can quickly inform senders when they can complete the task. Alertive has resulted in significant time savings for the customer trusts, with average response times reduced from 4:09 to 2:07 and 59 percent of Alertive responses received in less than one minute.
Looking ahead. Implementing Alertive has allowed the trusts to make efficient decisions and continues to improve staff and patient experience.
The Dorset Care Record, working with Orion Health
Overview: The Dorset Care Record is built on Orion Health technology and since its launch in 2018 has added data feeds, trained thousands of users, launched a patient portal pilot, and contributed to the local health and care record exemplar programme.
Why? The DCR has delivered efficiency savings along with benefits in patient experience, care and safety.
What happened? The DCR has now partnered with councils serving Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and Dorset, two acute trusts, a community and mental health trust, the NHS Dorset CCG and 71 GP practices. It has become the first shared care record in England to pilot the Orion Health Engage patient portal. Project managers have consolidated benefits into five areas: time saving, printing and paper reduction, improved patient safety, improved patient care, and improved patient experiences. SMART measures were used for each area and a benefits tracker was set up. Benefits found include the delivery of just under £2 million in efficiency savings to its partners in 2021-22, with efficiency savings increasing over time as more data needs are added, which makes it easier for users to find more information without logging into other systems or making enquiries.
Looking ahead. The DCR is improving patient care and safety throughout the region, and also provides repeatable methodology to prove its efficiency.
Infinity Health and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Overview: Infinity Health and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust collaborated on the implementation of a task management solution for the out-of-hours (OOH) service.
Why? As part of the trust’s implementation of the NHS Seven Day Services Clinical Standards, concerned were raised about the OOH period, including patient safety, workload, poor staff morale and inappropriate tasks being sent to OOH doctors.
What happened? The trust quickly realised that a digital task management solution could improve efficiency and facilitate a more manageable, sustainable and safer role. Implementing Infinity’s solution aimed to reduce unnecessary administrative burden to free up clinical time, improve task management, support OOH staff to better manage their workload, and support the OOH Coordinator to triage, prioritise and allocate tasks. The OOH Coordinator now logs requests on Infinity and allocates them on the platform instead of using a spreadsheet and making calls; OOH staff can log in from anywhere and instantly see what needs to be done. Staff report improved experience, 62 percent report that it has reduced the risk of error, and each OOH staff member saves 91 minutes per shift on average.
Looking ahead. As well as supporting staff and making efficiencies, data gathered by Infinity is also helping the trust to understand the make-up of tasks and analyse resourcing requirements. Infinity has been recommended to the Patient Safety Board for implementation 24/7 on the wards.
Lantum
Overview: Lantum unites clinicians and employers on one platform to deliver the best patient care together. 19 ICSs, over 300 PCNs and one-in-two practices use Lantum to transform workforce management.
Why? Lantum saves time for staff and money for the NHS, with over £30 million saved to date.
What happened? Connecting Scheduling, Lantum’s total workforce management solution, supports organisations to efficiently schedule staff, with a rostering solution, staff bank feature and network of locum clinicians in one place. It is used by more than 3000 healthcare organisations across the UK. As well as managing their staff, organisations can tap into a rich network of vetted staff to fill shift gaps, with more than 30,000 clinicians across a diverse range of more than 50 roles. Lantum fills upwards of 20,000 shifts across the UK every month. In the last 12 months, booking volumes have more than doubled and 14,000 more clinicians have been onboarded. Organisations have also noted improvements in staff retention and satisfaction; for example, when an NHS organisation adopts Lantum, they commonly see 40 percent increased staff retention due to its benefits such as next-day payments and ease of managing work.
Looking ahead. In their latest funding round, Lantum raised $15 million to build new products to help the NHS make more vital and substantial savings to staffing costs.
