The Health Tech Awards 2022 finalists in the category of ‘major project go live’ are as follows:
Healthcare Gateway
Overview: NHS Dumfries and Galloway completed a pilot project with Healthcare Gateway, becoming the first in Scotland to roll out the Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG) and connect 31 GP practices across the regions with real-time access to patient data.
Why? Healthcare Gateway’s vision is to improve the health and quality of life for all by providing the right information, at the right time, in the right place. Serving a rural population, NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s ambition is to digitise health and care, driving forward with electronic records to ensure access to rich patient information at the point of care.
What happened? Clinicians across all the secondary care settings can now access the MIG’s Detailed Care Record, which presents ten tabs of information from the GP record directly into the patient portal hosted by Orion Health: patient summary, current and past problems, diagnoses and medication, risks and warnings, procedures, investigations, examinations, events and patient demographics. The trust saw that sharing data via the MIG boosted efficiency, helped clinicians deliver patient-centred and safe care, and supported patients as they do not have to remember every detail about their own medical record.
Looking ahead. The trust’s next step is to expand MIG connectivity, providing remote teams access to patient information at the point of care.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals
Overview: Lancashire Teaching Hospitals implemented electronic prescribing and medication administration (EPMA) to Critical Care at Royal Preston Hospital, medicine and surgery divisions at Chorley District General Hospital, and emergency departments trust-wide.
Why? EPMA systems improve patient safety through reduction in medication errors, reduce time and deliver enhanced patient care.
What happened? The teams at the trust showed perseverance and flexibility, implementing technology in difficult times. The EPMA went live in Critical Care in November 2020 following delays from the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that the team had to work under additional pressures as go-live support could not be fully onsite as they would be under normal circumstances. The introduction to Critical Care was successful and the trust then moved on to implementing EPMA to medical and surgical wards at Chorley, involving onsite and remote support once again; staff worked hard through a challenging period impaired by sickness and isolation. With all adult inpatient areas live with EPMA, the trust then turned their attentions towards the emergency departments and adjusted their approach as necessary, in response to the differences in patient flow and staff work. With Omicron affecting the go-live, staff changed their work accordingly once again.
Looking ahead. The EPMA is now live across the targeted areas, delivering support to staff and patients alike.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust
Overview: The digital, clinical and operational teams at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust worked together to deliver a successful EPR implementation across their emergency department.
Why? Access to electronic patient records has produced a significant reduction in time spent searching for notes, documentation and additional information, with communication with GPs improved now that discharge summaries and notification of attendances are electronic.
What happened? The emergency department team worked closely with digital colleagues to rethink their approach rather than simply reproduce their paper processes electronically. They mapped processes and took opportunities to make improvements at every stage, from arrival to triage, consultant review to speciality review. Improvements were made to IT infrastructure within the department, providing mobile devices and tracking boards and also implementing a ‘tap and go’ system to allow clinicians to open up securely exactly where they left off with one tap, allowing them to move freely around the department without logging in and out of devices and systems.
Looking ahead. An ongoing feedback loop is in place through digital leaders and super users, with optimisations and processes initiatives suggested and implemented as appropriate.
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Overview: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust migrated onto a new EPR domain, going live at the Royal Free Hospital and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust, and achieving HIMSS EMRM stage seven for Chase Farm Hospital.
Why? Key benefits include £800,000 recurrent savings from annual hosting, maintenance and support costs, the end to fragmented workflows, and the end to duplication of resources and efforts in managing two separate domains.
What happened? In October 2021, the trust went live with the Model Content EPR at the Royal Free Hospital, deploying 26 modules in a ‘big bang’ go-live over one weekend. In November 2021, the EPR went live across the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust, aligning change control processes and digital governance to ensure the integrity of the domain going forwards. In March 2022, the trust was awarded HIMMS EMRAM 7 at Chase Farm Hospital, becoming the third NHS hospital and the seventh hospital in Europe to achieve this. Across the board, the work helps staff to deliver better, safer and faster care by allowing them access to a single, shared, real-time data source.
Looking ahead. Having developed and embedded a culture of using technology and data over the past five years, the trust looks forward to reaping the benefits of digitisation.
Virgin Media O2 Business
Overview: The Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust has transformed the way that people access mental health services thanks in part to a new contact centre pilot with Virgin Media O2 Business.
Why? The centre provides a ‘new front door’ for accessing mental health services, providing faster and more accessible support for patients and building community trust.
What happened? To achieve this, the trust chose to implement an 8×8 contact centre pilot with Virgin Media O2 Business. They wanted the programme to be led by clinicians and patients, adopting a ‘bottom up’ approach to transforming the service. A series of workshops were held with service users, employees and mental health specialists to identify key needs and ensure that they were addressed. Employees were given a bespoke four-week training course to give them confidence and help them deliver the best possible care. Patients now only need to explain their situation once, as the solution allows information to be passed between stakeholders rapidly and seamlessly. Since launching, the IRS has dealt with more than 6000 calls and received 2279 referrals, with 43.5 percent categorised as urgent. Self-referral rate increases reflect the ease with which patients can access services.
Looking ahead. The next phase will see the trust roll out the contact centre solution across all four localities.
Intouch with Health
Overview: Intouch with Health worked with University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust to create a remote outpatient assessment clinic on the top floor of a department store, delivering high-volume, low complexity face-to-face outpatient screening and appointments.
Why? The purpose-built centre plays a vital role in tackling hospital waiting lists and increasing the volume of life-saving screening as part of the trust’s ThinkBIG initiative.
What happened? There were two key priorities to transform the top floor of the department store into an efficient assessment clinic: effective patient flow management and data integration with the trust’s main systems. By integrating the remote clinic with the main systems, Intouch with Health has helped to centralise the patient flow data, delivering ‘one source of truth’ and avoiding siloes. Intouch with Health’s digital patient flow solutions have also been deployed at the facility, providing staff with oversight of the patient journey in real-time from one central dashboard. A total of 6039 patients passed through the facility in the 4 months since opening, including over 200 COVID vaccinations delivered in the week before Christmas.
Looking ahead. The facility is currently within phase one of the trust’s approach, operating at 56 percent utilisation. Once full utilisation is achieved, up to 1300 patients will be seen per week, providing significant additional capacity to support the trust in addressing their backlog.
ImproveWell
Overview: ImproveWell helps organisations create the right environment for staff wellbeing and continuous improvement. The Royal College of Psychiatrists partnered with ImproveWell to support teams across England and Wales to improve staff experience and wellbeing at work.
Why? ImproveWell seeks to tackle staff burnout, which is especially important due to the pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. With burnout leading to lower levels of staff engagement, patient experience and productivity, and an increased risk of workplace accidents, ImproveWell’s solution aims to ImproveWell’s solution aims to support the wellbeing of health and care staff.
What happened? ImproveWell’s solution creates the right environment for staff wellbeing and continuous improvement by empowering staff and key stakeholders to drive change. Pioneered and shaped in partnership with East London NHS Foundation Trust, application of the tool has spread from supporting the trust’s local programme to supporting national and international collaboratives in the last twelve months. Launching in 2021, the Royal College of Psychiatrists Enjoying Work quality improvement collaborative provided opportunities for 38 healthcare teams across 16 UK healthcare organisations to understand and test ideas on the factors contributing to joy in work and wellbeing. This is the first national programme of its kind, and likely the largest improvement collaborative on this topic globally. The programme achieved an aggregate 50 percent improvement in the percentage of people who enjoyed being at work frequently; a 41 percent improvement in the percentage of people who experienced no symptoms of burnout; and a 38 percent improvement in the percentage of people who were extremely likely to recommend their team as a place to work.
Looking ahead. Learnings will be publicly shared from the 38 teams involved in a further implementation at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, to support other organisations in improving their wellbeing at work.
RotaGeek
Overview: When Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (ASPH) decided that their workforce rostering approach needed reinventing, they embarked on a strategy to build a collaborative and flexible workforce with Rotageek.
Why? The trust wanted to improve interoperability, visibility and functionality
What happened? Their aim was to move to a solution for all worker types to improve efficiency and patient care across the organisation. A solution was needed that could aid agility in a clinical setting whilst supporting flexibility and providing complete oversight. Additionally, a live platform was needed so that everyone in the organisation would have access to real-time changes as they happened. Using advanced technology, Rotageek developed and delivered the first live integration between rostering and bank staff systems, streamlining and transforming workforce management for the trust by delivering an integrated best-of-breed approach for optimum efficiency. Benefits included automatic shift filling and a bespoke approach allowing multiple departments to add complexity to their rostering requirements.
Looking ahead. Results so far have shown that the pool of available clinicians has doubled to more than 5000, allowing ASPGH to build a collaborative and flexible workforce for the future.
Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine
Overview: Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine (PLM) from Practice Unbound enables practitioners to co-create personalised ‘lifestyle prescriptions’ with patients. Delivered online, it provides a suite of digital resources, tools, online community, data dashboard and eLearning.
Why? PLM saves time and money by reducing prescriptions and referrals, and enables practitioners to empower patients through prescriptions focused on lifestyle interventions.
What happened? PLifestyle medicine is a medical approach using evidence-based behavioural interventions to prevent, treat and manage chronic disease. PLM aims to meet some of the associated challenges by providing a new online eLearning programme for practitioners across the globe, teaching them the science behind lifestyle medicine. Practice Unbound launched a subscription product including four eLearning modules along with a bank of resources, a data dashboard to track implementation and impact and more, aiming to provide practitioners with a safe and effective toolkit for co-creating practical lifestyle changes. The source enables practitioners to understand the emerging discipline of lifestyle medicine, with the aim of co-creating ‘prescriptions’ centred around a person and focused on lifestyle change.
Looking ahead. PLM has been taken on by individual and organisational subscribers including primary care organisations, private healthcare companies, city councils and training hubs, and is helping practitioners across different disciplines to achieve positive outcomes.
