Vodafone and eConsult Health join forces to enhance patient access to care

Vodafone in Health and eConsult Health, a leading digital triage and remote consultation solution provider, have collaborated to help reduce patient waiting times and enhance patient safety.

The partnership aims to provide equal access to healthcare by reducing wait times and streamlining care for patients with urgent need. eConsult Health’s digital patient triage solution, eTriage, is developed by clinicians to help NHS Emergency Departments and Urgent Treatment Centres prioritise patients upon arrival.

By means of a self-registration process, eTriage collects patient comprehensive histories to facilitate early identification of sick patients and reduces the general waiting time for emergency treatment, ensuring better waiting room safety, streamlined patient pathways and improved patient satisfaction.

This is underpinned by Vodafone’s secure digital infrastructure, enabling healthcare providers to accelerate adoption of the digital platform and ensure adaptability to scale based on patient demand.

eConsult’s platform and Vodafone’s network will ensure service continuity once deployed which will give healthcare providers the ability to reduce patient waiting times.

Mark Harmon, chief strategy officer at eConsult, said: “It’s like-minded collaborations like this that makes the goal of improving access to patient care achievable.

“Combining Vodafone’s secure technology, and our digital eTriage tool will give A&E departments the helping hand they need to streamline ways of working and improve outcomes for patients and emergency workers.

“An end-to-end digital solution that automates patient prioritisation, eases triaging processes and notifies doctors of high acuity and urgent patients is essential for the NHS to meet demand and to free up precious doctor and nurse time. We’re excited to see the impact this has on our healthcare system over the coming months.”

The collaboration will bring together a unique combination of clinical and technology expertise, ensuring healthcare providers maximise their digital investment through alignment with clinical workflows and pathways, and have the right connectivity and technology foundations in place to meet their desired patient outcomes.

Vodafone UK’s director of health, Anne-Marie Vine-Lott, said: “Our collaboration with eConsult is further demonstration of Vodafone’s commitment to supporting the Health sector in its priorities and challenges.

“eConsult’s digital triage platform has already proven its ability to lower waiting times, improve access to services and reduce strain on the NHS workforce. By joining forces, we want to scale this platform, underpinned by our technology infrastructure, ensuring a reliable performance.

“Vodafone’s intention is to, working in partnership with the NHS and the private and third sectors, help develop technology solutions that support the delivery of better patient outcomes.”

eConsult’s partnership with Vodafone is not their first collaboration in healthcare. In December, it partnered with Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.