Multitone Electronics, in conjunction with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the NHS Innovations team, has launched its new Key Finder product.
Priced at £495 per unit, Key Finder is a highly-cost-effective and ingeniously-straightforward solution to a common issue for medical staff – quickly locating the keys for the secure drugs storage.
With changes of shift, and large teams of staff, something as simple as locating the drug storage keys can cause delays and frustration for staff and patients alike. The innovative Key Finder concept was envisaged by Sally Gray, paediatric practice educator at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust.
Reflecting on the requirements, she said: “Locating drug storage keys means potential delays for patients receiving medication or treatment. The Key Finder takes seconds to locate the keys, allowing nurses to reinvest their time preparing medicines, interacting with patients and ultimately improving the patient experience.”
Once the idea was conceived by Sally Gray, the NHS Innovations team turned to critical communications provider Multitone Electronics to help develop the product. Multitone has decades of experience in providing communications products and services for the health service, from pioneering hospital paging systems to the latest in integrated communications, so demonstrated the ideal expertise to develop the idea.
The Key Finder fob is attached to the drug keys and when activated by a nurse who needs them, the fob vibrates and alarms, alerting the nurse with the keys that they are required. The device also has the option of a night-time mode to reduce noise and disturbance at night.
In addition, the fob also vibrates and alarms if it is removed from the clinical area, reducing further delays for patients and helping staff to make the most of their valuable time. The Key Finder is also designed to be ward specific, to ensure that adjacent ward areas using the device can do so without cross-interference or confusion.
Andrew Jones, director of Marketing at Multitone, said: “By listening to the needs of nurses and working in conjunction with the NHS Innovation team and Portsmouth Hospitals Trust, Multitone has created an elegantly simple enterprise solution to meet a very real need.
Accessing the drug storage keys was costing Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust valuable nursing time every day. The disruption created excessive noise and motion and repeatedly interrupting colleagues was an unnecessary nuisance for both patients and staff. “
Dr Tony Hill from NHS Innovation South East, added: “This is an innovative solution that has come straight from those who work on the frontline of healthcare. It is easy for any member of staff to use and helps the whole ward to operate its time more efficiently. Vitally, it is highly robust to deal with the rigours of use, involves very little effort to commission, and is a highly affordable investment, which effectively pays for its self in saved staff-hours in a very short period of time.”