Hospital digital technologies to support the delivery of care
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded £166,800 to use digital technologies to improve productivity over the next year.
The funding will help the Trust make further use of MediShout, which is healthcare’s only one-stop App for staff to report and resolve any operational issues.
Ash Kalraiya, founder and CEO of MediShout, explained how it works. “It can be used by areas including IT, estates, facilities, equipment and human resources. QR codes allow patients and visitors to report any issues, whilst chat-bots will help nurses and ward staff resolve common problems that might otherwise delay them, such as any domestic or housekeeping issues.”
Charlotte Williams, chief strategy and improvement officer at the Trust, said: “We are really excited about this funding. Two examples of what it will allow us to achieve include helping us to automate the handover process between maternity staff and automate the visitor booking process. This will mean nurses and ward administrators can easily co-ordinate when visitors see patients. Both these changes will help save time for staff and improve patient care.
“MediShout has been in use by the Trust since 2019 and is estimated to have already saved 14,397 staff hours. This funding and expansion will allow us to save even more time.”
Eighty projects across 55 healthcare organisations have received a share of NHS England and NHS Improvement’s £12m digital productivity fund that will help level up digital maturity, supporting organisations and systems to accelerate the adoption of proven digital technologies.
Dr Maddy Borhani, assistant director digital productivity for NHS England and NHS Improvement, said: “Digital technologies such as automation and real time location systems have the potential to make a real difference when introduced in healthcare effectively and safely. They have a proven track record of delivering efficiencies and freeing up valuable staff time.
“I look forward to seeing Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation roll out this project and reaping the benefits from digital technology.”