Royal Papworth Hospital NHS FT to introduce mobile phone check-in
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is to introduce mobile phone appointment check-in and wayfinding in a bid to improve patient experience.
The technology will be introduced to outpatient clinics at the trust’s brand new hospital, the Royal Papworth Hospital, in September.
Outpatients will be able to download an app to check-in for appointments via their mobile phone upon arrival and will also be given access to a virtual map to help them find their way around the site.
Self-service kiosks will also be used to reduce check-in queues and allow patients to register their attendance, alongside digital patient calling screens that will replace the requirement for staff to call patients forward verbally, with an on-screen message.
Located at the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, when completed, the new hospital will include five operating theatres, and two hybrid theatres; the largest sleep clinic in the UK, and a centrally-located outpatient unit.
Kerry Winsor, ICT programme manager at the trust, said: “These new systems should help our patients feel more relaxed and comfortable during their time in the hospital, by reducing the time they spend queueing and helping them find their way around easily.
“In terms of benefits to the Trust, the project will help us to produce a real-time, data-rich dashboard that will support our service managers in improving department performance, as well as supplying auditable data to improve quality, patient safety and create ongoing efficiencies.”
The project will be delivered alongside patient flow management specialist, Intouch with Health.
Mike Sanders, CEO at Intouch with Health, added: “Access to real-time information is vital for hospitals looking to improve performance and create the most efficient environment possible for patients and staff alike.
“This project will ensure that the team at the new Royal Papworth Hospital have access to that information, while delivering the best possible experience for visiting patients.”
As reported by Digital Health News, the trust went live with its new electronic patient record system, Lorenzo, in June 2017.
4 Comments
What about elderly people who have no mobile willthey find this high tech frightening? Will there be help at hand?
if IT is run efficiently like the banks there will be plenty of help at hand, great news !
Experience with NHS patients and with the HSE in Ireland highlights the fact, as the patient profile get older, we see more support from family and care assistants. The online adoption does dip between the age profile 55 to 70 and picks up significantly, particularly for the patients over 80 years old. Many hospitals also offer a call center service to allow patients to book appointments over the phone rather than face a longer waiting time as a walk-in appointment. We do find that a large portion of the phone bookings will provide an email and mobile no. in order to receive automated reminders of appointments.
Great to see this implementation is planned. All hospitals managing OPD appointments and diagnostic clinics should offer this facility to patients. Many patients already check in at Kiosks in the NHS and the use of a bar code or mobile phone is a simple extension of this. The automated reporting that results from this process is a terrific boost to clinicians and administrators.
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