Derby manages winter pressures

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has implemented an ExtraMed inpatient flow manager system from Hospedia to help manage winter bed pressures.

The trust is due to deploy the Lorenzo electronic patient record system next month. Mark Norwood, associate director of information management and technology said that and the Hospedia system will be used alongside the EPR.

“We’re looking forward to the Lorenzo integration and we can really see how a third generation patient flow system complements our strategy with Lorenzo,” he said.

The ExtraMed system, which went live before the end of last year, has provided the trust with electronic whiteboards on the wards, which are used by consultant led multi-disciplinary teams on ward rounds.

Derby’s management team use the whiteboards to get an “at a glance view” of the trust status.

Neil Radford, the trust’s head of operations, said he hoped it would make a big difference on winter pressures.

“We worked closely with the Hospedia team to get the system up and running on the wards in time for the end of the year as we knew it would make a big difference to our front line staff over the winter and give us confidence that we were operating efficiently and safely,” he said.

“The Hospedia team were great and I’m delighted that our Medical Division have electronic whiteboards they love and I’ve got a Patient Flow system that helps me and my team day to day.”

The software will share real-time information across the trust’s two hospital sites and teams in community and social services will also be using the virtual wards feature of the system, to improve patient flow in the healthcare economy.