“TeleTracking’s technology was built in partnership with NHS leaders who want to change the NHS, and the world, and receipt of the BBH Award is validation of the work we have all put into helping trusts across the UK.”
This was the reaction of Michael Gallup, president of TeleTracking Technologies, the company behind the technology awarded with the 2014 Building Better Healthcare Award for Best Product for Improving Working Practices.
TeleTracking’s suite of healthcare technology solutions creates an enterprise-wide platform to address virtually every point along the patient flow pathway, from admission to discharge, giving hospital operations managers real-time visibility of patients, staff, and the deployment of equipment and supplies across a healthcare facility.
Clinicians were using simple boards and pins and bits of paper to show where patients and staff were at any one time. We thought we could do this electronically, so the company was started
Speaking to BBH after the ceremony, Gallup said, “After winning the BBH Award we hope to gain exposure in the UK and for healthcare leaders here to see the product as more than a US solution, and instead, a solution built in partnership with clinicians across the UK.”
TeleTracking’s technology has evolved over 23 years, since its inception as an automated system to replace the widespread use of whiteboards and sticky notes for tracking patients as they moved through a hospital.
Gallup explains, “Clinicians were using simple boards and pins and bits of paper to show where patients and staff were at any one time. We thought we could do this electronically, so the company was started, with the initial aim of notifying housekeeping when beds needed to be cleaned.”
Over the next few years, new systems were designed to help other members of the hospital staff, including porters and bed managers who are responsible for finding the most-appropriate location for each patient.
“As we enhanced the systems, we developed the ability to track patients throughout their stay. The next obvious step was to be able to view that data in absolute real time. Everything we do is based on the same theme – how do we create a better patient experience and a better staff experience?”
TeleTracking moved into the UK market eight years ago, most recently partnering with The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust to take the solution one step further by creating an automated hand hygiene sensor technology, which monitors hand washing compliance among healthcare workers. The resulting product, an enterprise-wide operations platform using real-time locating system technology, is the product recently recognised by BBH, with the judges describing it as having ‘tremendously wide appeal’.
Gallup said: “Around 27 trusts in the UK are already using the system and we are also in talks with a number of well-known hospital trusts who are looking to implement it in the near future.
After winning the BBH Award we hope to gain exposure in the UK and for healthcare leaders here to see the product as more than a US solution, and instead, a solution built in partnership with clinicians across the UK
“This technology is helping to collect vital data and creating important alarms and alerts so that hospitals can see demand on a ward-by-ward and theatre-by-theatre basis. The system can tell the trust exactly how many staff are needed, how many beds will be needed, and all the supplies that will be needed in every ward and department.”
Following the award, TeleTracking aims to further expand its offerings, concentrating primarily on the labour market.
“We are looking at systems that help to tell a hospital where they need to move their staff and, importantly, technology that will help to bridge the gap between acute and social care systems, providing a continuum of care across the board,” said Gallup, “It is an exciting time for us.”
