Barnsley Hospital introduces ward assessment app

Barnsley Hospital is embracing technology to improve patient care with the introduction of a new app for assessing ward areas.

The hospital was only the second in the country to implement the Perfect Ward app, an easy-to-use app that has a big impact on quality by simplifying ward assessments.

But many others are now following, showing Barnsley’s desire to look for innovative healthcare solutions and be at the leading edge of using technology to improve patient care.

The Perfect Ward app can be used on users’ smartphones or tablets, which in turn reduces the need for paper and frees up nursing staff time.

The app makes clear the standards expected and provides instant, transparent feedback, which means that quality can be improved across the trust.

Before Perfect Ward was introduced ward assessments were paper based, which meant nursing staff had to take time to write up their findings.

Using the Perfect Ward app greatly improves this process. The app is easily accessible for staff, the method of storing information is structured and easy to analyse, users are able to add photos and comments where appropriate, there is no need to write up information as it is all stored on the app, and users are able to get a real insight into the details of all inspections.

Perfect Ward has received positive feedback from staff and, in the first month of it going live, the hospital saw an increase of over 50% in the number of inspections undertaken.

All photos and information are transferred immediately onto a secure server and are never saved on the user’s device. This ensures it is a completely confidential system.

Andrew Mooraby, head of nursing and project lead for the Perfect Ward app at Barnsley, said: “We are very excited to be the second trust in the UK to roll out this new assessment method and are extremely pleased with the excellent feedback we have received from staff using the app during the first couple of months.

“To have the opportunity to use this innovative technology to improve patient care is something we are really proud of.”

Jonathan Knight, founder of Perfect Ward, added: “It’s been great to work with Barnsley to implement Perfect Ward, and we’ve been delighted how readily the staff have embraced using mobile technology to carry out inspections.”

“The app is fully customisable to allow the hospital to assess the most-important factors for improving patient care, and the team at Barnsley has put a lot of time and effort into getting the questions right. We’re really looking forward to the trust continuing the rollout from wards into theatres, clinics and other clinical areas, and all the quality improvements this will bring.”

Barnsley Hospital aims to roll Perfect Ward out to all areas of the trust by the end of August.