The project will help deliver an improved hospital experience for patients while also alleviating pressure on its admin and clinical teams.
The project will see the Intouch Patient Flow Platform (including the solutions Flow Manager, Check-In, Mobile Appointment Manager, Patient Calling, Wait Time Manager and Activity Manager) used across 6 of the Trust’s sites, beginning with the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
At the core of this digital transformation project is Intouch with Health’s Flow Manager solution, a central digital dashboard accessed by staff across the Outpatient department that will allow teams to monitor the location and status of each visiting patient in the department throughout the duration of their appointment. Staff will be able to quickly see which patients have arrived, which have not checked-in, if each patient is in the appropriate waiting room, if they have been called to see the clinician and when they have finished seeing the clinician – all from one central dashboard. From this dashboard, staff will also be able to monitor patient numbers in various waiting rooms as part of a capacity management feature that supports the Trust’s ongoing social distancing and infection prevention measures.
Other solutions including Intouch’s Mobile Appointment Manager app will ensure patients can safely check-in for their appointments without needing to enter a building. When in close proximity to the hospital’s building, patients can check-in using the app and remain outside until they are called forward for their appointment through the app. As a result, patient numbers inside waiting rooms can be reduced.
This partnership is a result of collaboration between another VitalHub UK organisation – Transforming Systems. Royal Berkshire already uses the SHREWD whole-system visibility platform to support their regional reporting as a member of the NHS England and NHS Improvement South East region, one of seven regional teams in England that ensure that the population of the South East have access to high-quality health and care services.
This digital transformation project is already underway with a go-live date scheduled for later in the year.
